Garie
by Garie June
Summary: Meet Garie June, Silva's ukulele playing, karate doing, music loving niece who is about to crash the Shaman Fight. After a very bad school experience, Garie is thrown into a punished state that'll show her all about the tribe she belongs to. Manga-based.
1. Punished, like, ultimately

I kept my eyes forward, not wishing to show any emotion. I'd already thrown a really big fit earlier. That was in private, though. Well, mom was there too, but she didn't count. She was always there to hear my fits, mostly since she was always the subject of them. It seemed to me like she was the only one to blame. It just made sense to me. Anyway, since the fit was over with now, I stayed quiet, solemn, and emotionless. I didn't want people to see how weak I was inside. If I look strong on the outside, people will leave me alone.

There weren't a lot of people on the streets, but they kept to themselves. Every once in a while, one of them might throw a glance in my way, but that was all the acknowledgement that graced me. I looked at each from the corner of my eye. None of them were dressed alike. Most wore clothes that you don't usually see in America, much less this part of Colorado. Sure, you see some pretty crazy things around here, but this was different. Very different.

"Hurry up, Garie." Mom called back as she walked farther ahead of me. "I want to speak with your uncle quickly. I have lessons to teach tonight."

I rolled my eyes. Mom didn't care about getting anywhere on time. The world could wait for her as far as she was concerned. She just didn't like the way some of the other people were looking at her. I couldn't blame them, though. With three-inch Stiletto heels and tons of makeup, my mom made these people look almost normal. In some ways, my mom was beautiful, but she tried just a little too hard. She needed to chill every once in a while.

I shifted my duffel bag comfortably over my shoulder while my other hand held my ukulele. People always gave me weird looks when I carried it around, but I needed it with me. I ran to catch up to her.

"Do you really think it's going to be okay with him?" I asked, breaking my vow of silence.

"It better be," she responded flatly, not even looking at me. "He owes me."

I looked around the strange streets. I hadn't been in this village for a long time. It seemed weird to come back. It was like walking around an almost forgotten memory, or a half-finished dream. It was surreal.

"You know, there are other forms of punishment." I said, casually eying a random totem pole on the side of the road. "Some that don't involve cancelling my summer plans in order to stay with an uncle that I haven't seen since I was six. Why didn't you just take away my laptop?"

"Believe me, Garie," Mom replied, looking at a map not too far from where we stood. "This will do you some good. I need you to actually realize that what you did was wrong and that I will no longer accept that sort of behavior from you. Once you've learned your lesson, you can come home."

I crossed my arms. "Like I even want to come home." I muttered, not caring if Mom heard me or not. If she had, she didn't show it. She turned away from the map and was once again on her way. Even in heels, she was fast. I had to sprint just to keep up.

Finally, she stopped in front of a restaurant with the word "Patch" written across the top. It looked kind of old-fashioned from the outside. There was a menu taped on the outside of the window. Looking in, I could see a bunch of wooden tables and chairs. Not a lot of them were occupied from what I could see. In the back, there was a large counter, complete with wooden stools.

"Here we are." Mom sighed, reaching for the glass door.

As Mom and I stepped into the building, we were greeted by a much needed blast of cool air. I took a deep breath. Thank god for AC.

I took in the room. There were only a few tables occupied. A long one was filled with people who all seemed to be from Asia, although one of them could've been African, judging by his clothing, and another looked more European than anything else. They were the largest group in the restaurant. The rest were mostly groups of one or two scattered around the room.

"Don't make eye-contact." Mom said through clenched teeth and a tight smile.

I rolled my eyes as I sauntered after her. We wove our way through the tables, then came to the counter at the end of the room. Behind the counter, a man stood with his back to us, humming to himself. I studied him, or what I could see of him, at least. He had long black hair that had a feather stuck on a red head band that just barely showed. He seemed to have rippling muscles, which I thought was kind of hot.

Mom cleared her throat loudly.

When the man turned around, he was smiling warmly. That was only momentarily, though, because when he saw Mom, his smile was replaced by a very shocked expression. In fact, he was so shocked that he almost dropped the glass he was drying.

"Leigha!" He exclaimed.

Mom's tight smile didn't falter. "Hello Silva."

"What are you doing here?" Silva asked urgently. I could tell he wasn't very happy to see her.

"I've come because of that favor you owe me." Mom replied, looking at Silva straight in the eye. "I know how you can repay it now."

Silva sighed. "Leigha, I'm way too busy to think about something like that. As one of the officials of the Shaman Fight, I need to put my full attention into the fight, not on whatever silly thing you want me to do."

"The favor I'm asking you isn't as silly as you may think, Silva." Mom said evenly. "And I'm sure it won't distract you from your," she paused and looked distastefully around the restaurant. "duties, I guess."

Silva sighed with annoyance. "Fine, what is it?"

Mom's eyes flickered with a small hint of amusement. She nodded towards me. "Do you remember my second daughter Garie?"

Silva looked at me for the first time, and I could see the annoyance practically melt off his face. "Garie? Garie June?" His eyes were wide with surprised pleasure. "I haven't seen you in years! Look at how you've grown!"

In spite of myself, I smiled. "You look nothing like I remember."

Silva laughed, but Mom interrupted. "Good, I'm glad you remember each other, because I'm leaving her here under your care."

Silva was once again shocked into silence. Finally, he blinked a couple of times and took a deep breath. "WHAT?" He boomed, so loud that I swear I could feel the ground under me shake. Around the room, all had gone silent. I turned to see every single head aimed in our direction. After an awkward silence, and a few more weird looks, everyone went back to their conversations.

Even so, I could feel my cheeks burning slightly with annoyance. I muttered something about feeling tired and, making sure no one had their eyes on me, went to sit in the stool at the very end of the counter, taking out one of the books I'd brought with me. Maybe if I kept my head down long enough, no one would know that I'm related to those two random people arguing at the other end of the counter.

"Say, who's that woman who looks kind of like Silva?" I heard a voice behind me ask. I jumped a little and cursed, then turned to see who had spoken. Behind me, there stood a boy of about my age. He had floppy brown hair, complete with a pair of orange headphones stuck behind his ears. His eyes were a chocolate brown, and he wore a very carefree expression. He was smiling brightly at me. It took me a second to register the question he had asked me.

"That, uh, that's my mom." I said, suddenly feeling kind of self-conscious. I checked to make sure that my shirt was stainless, and ran a hand through my hair to make sure it wasn't getting pouffy. Huh, that's weird. I hardly ever care about that.

The boy's smile widened. "Oh really? Are you related to Silva?"

I nodded. "He's my uncle, but I hardly ever talk to him."

"No way! I didn't even know Silva had a sister." He said, sitting on the stool next to mine. "How old are you?"

"Fourteen." I answered, wondering how that was important. Ah, who cared, this kid seemed pretty nice.

"Awesome." He replied. "So am I." His expression changed from happiness to curiosity, and I realized he was looking at my ukulele. "Do you like music?"

I blinked in surprise. He sure knew how to change subjects. He also knew how to ask some pretty obvious questions. "Well, duh! I love music."

"What kind?" The boy asked, smiling at my answer.

"Oh jeez," I laughed a little. "I like rock, blues, soul, indie, classical. . ."

"Classical?" The boy cut me off, as if listening to classical music were the weirdest thing ever.

"Well, yeah, it's relaxing." I replied. "Actually, both my parents are classical musicians, so I kind of grew up with it. I don't usually listen to it, but there are a few that I listen to after I train."

"Your parents are musicians? That's so cool!" They boy said, his eyes wide with excitement. He leaned back on the counter, getting into a comfortable position. I noticed that throughout our whole conversation, his eyes had hardly left my face. "I usually listen to hard rock or something close for training. Anything with a fun beat, really."

"Yeah, me too." I agreed. It was amazing. This guy actually knew what he was talking about. "Do you have a favorite artist?"

The boy (whom I shall now call Headphones, since I didn't know his name), thought for a second. "Nah, I love too many to choose."

"If I gave you some names, would you tell me if you like them or not?" I suggested.

Headphones nodded. "Totally!"

I thought for a second. "Hm. . . How about. . . The Beatles?"

Headphones laughed. "Who couldn't love the Beatles? Honestly!"

I laughed with him. "I can think of a few people, but I guess that was a given. How about. . . Elvis?"

He nodded. "Yeah, he's got some respectable songs. It's my turn now."

"Go ahead." I said, getting ready.

"The White Stripes?"

I stuck my tongue out. "Ugh, I can't stand them."

"They have some good songs!" Headphones said defensively.

"Not for my taste." I said.

Headphones thought again. "Okay, what about. . . The Beach Boys?"

My eyes narrowed. "Do you actually listen to the Beach Boys?" Wow, he didn't seem like the type to go that far back into old time rock and roll.

"Just answer the question." He scolded me playfully.

"Fine," I said with a laugh. "Yes, I like the Beach Boys. They're fun."

Headphones nodded, and I could see that he was trying not to laugh. "Okay, what about. . ."

"Yoh!" someone from the crowded table called. "Come on, man!"

Headphones, whose name was evidently Yoh, (yup, definitely not American), turned apologetically to me. "Oops, looks like I got sidetracked again." He stood up. "Anyway it was nice meeting you, uh. . ." he paused. I seriously got to introduce myself before I go off on random conversations with people.

"Oh, right." I said, laughing at myself for not telling him my name. "I'm. . ."

"Garie!" My mom suddenly called sharply from where she still stood with Silva. "Get over here."

I sighed. "That."

"Garie." Yoh repeated, smiling. "That's a cool name. Well, see you around, Garie." I watched him as he rejoined his group of friends and they walked together out of the restaurant.

I took a deep breath, realizing that my cheeks weren't at their normal temperature. I stood and walked back to where Silva and Mom stood.

"Who were you talking to?" Mom asked curiously.

Silva smiled at me. "That was Yoh Asakura. He's one of the participants of the Shaman Fight."

Mom looked back at the glass door, as if expecting to see Yoh standing there. "He looked a little young to be fighting."

"Believe me, he's not the youngest." Silva replied. "I think the youngest shaman in the tournament is about five years old."

I blinked at him. "How the heck does a five-year-old fight?"

"You'd be surprised at the strength of some of the shamans around here." Silva said.

Mom didn't look happy. "That's sickening, making children fight."

"We're not making them!" Silva argued. "Whether or not they choose to fight is the shaman's own choice."

They were back at bickering, and I was right in the middle of it again. "Okay," I said holding my hands up. "I think we all get it. Now shut it!" They stopped, much to my joy and surprise. "Now, can you please tell me what the plan is?"

Mom smiled triumphantly. "Your uncle has agreed to take you in for a while, but on one condition."

I turned to face my uncle. "What condition?"

Silva's face had gone a little grim. "You can stay here, as a favor to my older sister, but you have to work for me."

"Work for you?" I asked. "That's it?"

Silva laughed, but the sound was almost heartless, and kind of scary. "Believe me, it's not going to be easy. If you're going to stay with me, you have to earn it."

Well, hell! The punishment was that I was supposed to stay with my uncle for a month and learn about Native American culture, instead of going home to Mexico, or hanging out with my friends. For someone like me, that's practically torture. Now I had to work for him? What the hell!

"Good." Mom broke into my evil thoughts. "Glad we've got that settled. I have to go."

I looked at her, realizing how much I really did want to go home now. I knew she was serious about this, though. When it comes to punishment, she usually finds something that will really teach me. No grounding me from my computer or taking away my cell phone. Oh no. If I do something wrong, she wants me to suffer for it.

Mom turned to me. I'm taller than her, even when she was in heels, so she had to raise herself to kiss my cheek. "I'll see you in a month." She said, shouldering her purse. "Be good to your uncle, and do what he says. And at least try not to get into trouble while you're here."  
I sighed. "Whatever."

Mom pulled back from me, looking slightly hurt, but I tried not to think about it. With one final look at Silva, Mom turned on her heel and walked out the door, leaving me feeling more lost than I've ever felt in my life.

I didn't realize how long I'd been staring at the door until I heard Silva sigh behind me. "She certainly hasn't changed at all, that Leigha."

I looked back at him. I noticed that he was wearing a white apron, and one of his hands had rings on every finger. The rings were shaped like five different animals, a snake, a cow, an eagle, a coyote, and a turtle. I tried to see a relation between the animals. I didn't find any.

Silva looked back at me. "Your mom sure knows how to come to me at the worst of times."

I shrugged, sitting in the stood in front of him. "It was partly my fault. I'm the one who got in trouble."

Silva eyed me suspiciously. "What exactly did you do that make her want to kick you out?"

I leaned my head on my hand, staring off into space. "I got in a fight at school, so I got suspended for the last week of school."

Silva went back to organizing some stuff behind the counter. "And how is that bad enough to kick you out?"

"Only that it's my third suspension this semester." I replied. "I guess Mom's just sick of me getting into trouble at school."

Silva nodded. "Now I see why she brought you here." He said, turning to face me. "She wants me to knock some sense into you."

I raised my head. "She wants you to try. That doesn't mean it's going to work."

"I don't know, I'm pretty good at knocking things into people." Silva smiled at me, and I smiled back at him. Even if he was punishing me and all, my uncle wasn't half bad. He looked around the restaurant. "Well, there isn't much left for you to do here. Why don't you go look around the village for a while? I'll meet you back at my apartment in an hour. Deal?"

I nodded. "Deal," I got up and went to were I'd dumped my duffel bag and my ukulele earlier. "What do you want me to do with my bag?"

"Leave it here." Silva replied. "I'll take it back up to my place."

I looked at him. Why was he being so nice? What happened to me being punished? I didn't argue with him though. Instead, I picked up my ukulele, strapping it over my shoulder.

"See ya, Silva." I called, heading towards the door.

"Bye." He called back. "Oh, and try not to get anyone mad. I'd hate to have to save you from getting your butt kicked."

I looked back at him. "Get my butt kicked? Yeah, right," Then I stepped out into the hot summer afternoon. I looked around, wondering where to go first. I decided to just walk in any general direction. The streets were vaguely familiar to me, since I'd been here before, but I still had to remind myself where everything was. I was in the place that they called "The Athlete's Village." It was basically where all the restaurants, shops, and fitness centers were placed. Beyond here were the apartments and inns where the contestants of the Shaman Fight and their families lived for the time being. How did I know all this? My mom was a full-blooded Patch woman. She knew all there is to be known about this village, past, present, and possibly future.

So yes, I had some idea of what the Shaman Fight was. It's a tournament that comes once every five hundred years. The winner of the fight becomes the Shaman King, who is basically the ruler of the universe, or what most people know as God.

I had wanted to enter the fight, since, well, who doesn't want to rule the world? Wouldn't that just be the most awesome thing ever? I wasn't allowed to, of course, by both my house rules and the Patch laws. The house rules, with both my mom and my dad, state that I can't do anything that would either kill me, or make me miss school. I've broken that rule before, though. The one that I can't break are the Patch laws, which state that no person with any blood relation with the Patch (basically if you are, or are related to, someone in the Patch, marriage included), may enter the Shaman Fight.

Mom says that's because of some idiot five hundred years ago in the last Shaman Fight who wanted to become the Shaman King, even though he was one of the officials in charge of the fight. I can't remember what happened to him. He was probably killed by an angry mob or something. Hey, it makes sense in my mind.

As I walked, the air next to me shimmered, but not because of the heat. Suddenly, a small woman in Greek robes appeared floating next to me. She was holding a Greek instrument called a lyre. I guess you have to be someone like me to understand that this woman was a spirit. You'll come to realize that I'm a very peculiar person. You'll see.

"What a beautiful place!" The spirit said in a sweet, childish voice that made the air around her dance playfully.

"Hm, I wouldn't exactly call it beautiful, Erato." I said, putting on my shades and brushing my hair away from my face. "I guess it's pretty. I don't know."

Erato looked at me, her happiness replaced by sympathy. "Are you still mad at your mother, Miss Garie?"

I shrugged, staring forward. "Nah, I know I'm supposed to hate her and stuff for dumping me in a village in the middle of nowhere, but why should I even care? At least it keeps me from having to see my dad just yet."

Erato nodded thoughtfully. "You're right, I suppose. You could somehow end up enjoying this, you know."

"Well, I'll have to thank her for abandoning me again, wont I?" I replied, trying to sound less angry than I felt.

"I'm just saying that things can't be as bad as you think." Erato said in a smaller voice. "Some people seem nice."

My mind shot back to the conversation I'd had earlier with that boy in the headphones, Yoh. He had seemed like a good guy, and he shared my interests. Maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be so bad.

"Who knows?" I finally replied.

"Who knows." Erato agreed.

We kept walking. Well, I walked, she floated. Within a couple of minutes, I was at the top of a hill that looked down on a very large lake. I knew this place very well. It was my favorite place in the whole village. Mom used to bring my sisters and me here to have picnics or just to play. I remembered those days so well. When we were here, Mom would sometimes tell us stories of past Shaman Fights, or the history of the village. I really loved those times. They were the few times in my life when none of us would argue. The only feeling anyone had was love and happiness. Too bad things change so quickly.

Over the course of eight years, not a lot of things had changed. One thing, though, was definitely different. As I raised my eyes from the crystal-like water, I noticed something that I'd never seen before in my entire life. In fact, I had no idea what it was. It looked like a giant, bright, colorless, formless thing. There's really no other way to describe it. As I looked closer, it seemed to be constantly in motion. It started as a thick mass on the ground, and then it moved up higher and higher onto the top of what looked like a cavern-like roof.

That's all I noticed before I passed out.


	2. Blessed or cursed? You be the judge

Looking back, I don't think I've ever had such a weird experience. I have fainted before, mostly from doing something stupid like getting up too quickly, or from a strange occurrence of hypoglycemia. But this was different. It was as if I my whole body had gone completely rigid, but my mind was completely free. All feeling was gone from me. All I had was my sight, and even that seemed to have gone slightly numb.

The scene before me started out in darkness. Then, in a burst of light and color, I began to see images. Everything looked ancient and far away. Yet, it was as if I'd seen it all before. I realized that I was seeing the history of the Patch tribe, just as it had been described to me when I was little, but a hundred times more intense.

I could see everything that had happened in the Patch. The beginning, when humans were barely developing. All the wars, the death, the sorrow, it was all magnified in these visions. I saw the rising and falling of great people who influenced my tribe, in both good and bad ways. I saw hundreds of people, living and dying for this village. As the history progressed, I saw the Shaman Fights that had happened, up to the last one, five hundred years ago.

Yet, the visions kept going. Soon, everything I saw became more modern. I recognized a lot of the people in them. I saw my mom as a young girl, and Silva, and my other aunt who I sometimes see, and my uncle who died before I was born. I saw Mom when she married my dad, then my sister's birth, then my birth, and my parent's divorce, and my little sister's birth. I saw me growing up in Mexico, living partly with Mom and partly with Dad. I saw my whole life before me. _What the hell is this?_ I thought to myself. _Am I dying?_

Then, just as quickly as it had begun, the visions came to an abrupt end, and it was all black again. Everything returned. My body, my mind, everything came back. My eyes were still closed, but I could feel the burning of the hot summer sun against the exposed skin on my arms. It was like a very uncomfortable meditation.

"Is she okay?" I heard the voice of a girl. I could tell she was young, maybe about my age. She seemed to have some kind of Southern accent.

"Maybe we should dump some water on her, or something," responded a second voice, this time a guy.

"Why don't we just show her your face? That's enough to wake anyone up." The girl responded sarcastically.

"Hey!" The boy yelled.

"Would you two shut up and do something" A second guy said. His voice was deeper, and kind of rough, like he spent most of his time yelling at people.

"Oh, shut up Ren." The girl said. "It's not like you're doing anything to help out."

"That's because there's nothing to do, Jordin." The boy named Ren responded. (Um, either he's not from around here, or he has some pretty original parents. Honestly, who names their kid Ren?)

"Maybe we should take her to Faust." The other boy suggested. "He might be able to do something."

My mind tried to register what the heck the boy was saying. They were trying to wake me up, although I was already awake, which I should probably point out to them. But what was this about wanting to take me to someone names Faust? How weird was that? Yeah, thank you very much, but no way.

I opened my eyes, blinking several times to adjust to the light. When I was adjusted, I stared up at the people looking down at me. They looked kind of funny. One boy had very spiky blue hair, which reminded me a lot of a hairbrush. He was wearing some kind of headband around his forehead. It had some kind of native design on it, but not anything you see around the Patch. Maybe he was another type of Native American?

The other boy looked even weirder. He had dark purple hair that fell down over his eyes, but stuck up in one point at the end. I think there's a name for that hairstyle, but I couldn't remember it at the time. He was glaring very evilly down at me with his very evil gold eyes. I could tell he was one of those mean rich kids who treat everyone like crap even though he's smaller than everyone.

The girl seemed to be the most normal of the group. She had dark skin that reminded me of one of those chocolate cappuccinos that I like to get sometimes. Yeah, I hadn't had coffee in a while, so excuse my descriptions. The girl also had dark brown hair that had been put into thin dreadlocks that almost reached her stomach. All three of them looked at me with curiosity, as if I was the weird one, and they were completely normal.

"Um, excuse me, but could you please stop staring at me like that?" I asked weakly.

All three of them leaned slightly back at the sound of my voice. I hope I didn't offend them, though. Geez, it would suck to make enemies on my first day here, especially with these weird people.

The girl, what was her name? Oh yeah, Jordin. Whatever. Jordin was the first to respond. "Uh, sorry, I guess, if we're making you uncomfortable or something. We just don't usually see people randomly pass out around here. Or were you sleeping?"

"I wasn't sleeping," I responded, sitting up and rubbing my elbow. Evidently, I landed quite hard on it. "I fainted."

"Do you faint a lot?" the boy with the hairbrush hair asked.

I looked at him, trying not to laugh at his hair. "No," I shook my head, considering the question. "Well, usually I have a reason to faint. You know hypoglycemia or something. Not sure why I fainted this time. I mean, I ate protein today," My eyes narrowed. "Or well, I think I did."

Now it was their turn to look at me like I was insane. "Hey!" I said defensively. "It's true. One moment I'm just walking around with Erato, next I'm lying on the ground, right after seeing that thing." I pointed my finger at the giant shimmery thing I'd seen earlier. "Isn't that right, Erato?"

Erato appeared next to where I sat. The three people looked at her, hardly surprised. Looks like they could see spirits too, huh?

Erato nodded at what I'd said. "It's true, Miss Garie. You saw that thing, and then you fainted."

Ren looked at where my finger was pointed. "You mean the Great Spirit?"

Great Spirit. Now, how was that familiar? I could've sworn I'd heard of it before, but where? I searched through my memories, trying to remember. Then, suddenly, it came back to me. I slapped myself on the forehead.

"Oh, duh!" I exclaimed, causing another round of weird looks. "The Great Spirit, yeah, Silva told me about it. That's the whole reason everyone's here, isn't it?"

Ren stared at me with his very evil expression. How did this guy have friends? He's so creepy! "Excuse me, are you a shaman?"

I nodded. Hm, I thought it'd be obvious. "Yeah, I mean, sort of. I've never really gotten any proper training."

Ren nodded. "Yeah, well, you don't act like one."

What the heck? "What does that mean? How do shamans usually act?"

The Jordin girl studied me. "Well, no offense or anything, but you have no idea what the Great Spirit is, you randomly pass out for no reason, and dude," she laughed. "You're almost blonder than Paris Hilton."

Wow, what a prejudice person! Who the hell was she to tell me I'm blonder than Paris Hilton?

I stood up, trying to keep a cool attitude. "Give me a break, okay? I mean, right now I could be totally racist and make fun of all you people and your funny looks, but I'm not going to, because I don't have time for that." I checked my watch to prove my point, and even I was surprised at how late I was. "Holy crap," I swore. "I was passed out for like half an hour!" I looked around me, looking for my ukulele. I found it on the ground, next to where I'd passed out. I picked it up, strapped it on, and faced the three random racist people.

"Well, it's not like I don't want to sit here all afternoon and count my brain cells as they die slowly one by one," I said, pushing past them and up the road. "But I have somewhere to be."

As I walked off, I swear I heard Jordin mutter. "What brain cells?"

Anyway, I didn't have time to think about those three jerks. I was way too late for that. I'd promised my uncle to meet him and his apartment, and it didn't take me long to realize that I had no idea where it was. I probably should've asked him. Well, now I felt blond.

"Erato," I said, calling back my spirit. She appeared next to me. "I need you to look around and find my uncle's apartment. See if you can find out where it is."

"Of course, Miss Garie," Erato took off into the air, searching high above while I searched down on the ground.

I was now in the area where all the inns and hotels were at. The problem was they all looked exactly the same. How was I supposed to find Silva's place? Was there, like, a special section for the Patch officials or something? I honestly had no idea.

I was walking very quickly. Actually, I was running, and my eyes were traveling along the sides of the road, not paying attention to the front. That's probably why I crashed quite painfully into that one person.

The impact knocked me back, and I staggered a little, trying to regain my balance.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" I said angrily, rubbing my wounded arm, where I'd fallen earlier.

"Oops," said a very deep voice. "Sorry, I guess I didn't see you coming."

I looked up at the speaker. Yes, I'm very tall, but this guy was taller. Not only that, but he had some muscles. He obviously worked out a lot. It took me a second to realize that I was looking at another Patch official. This one's hair was black and wavy, but he also wore a bandanna and two feathers stuck in his hair. I blinked up at him.

"Shouldn't I know you?" I asked, wondering why I recognized him.

The man studied me curiously. "I'm not entirely sure. What's your name?"

"Garie," I responded. "Garie June Sullivan."

The man's face suddenly lit up with recognition. "Garie!" he exclaimed, clapping his hand very strongly (and painfully) on my shoulder. "Of course, how could I forget? You're Silva's niece!"

I rubbed my shoulder. "And yet I still don't know who you are."

The man laughed. It was a great booming sound that I'm sure could be heard all around the block. "I'm surprised you don't remember me. I'm Kalim."

Kalim, I thought. Kalim, Kalim, Kalim. Okay this was taking way longer than it should. Think back, Garie, think back! Finally, I remembered.

"Kalim!" I exclaimed. "I totally remember! You're the one who used to give me all that awesome stuff on my birthday!"

"Yeah," Kalim replied, smiling. "You've gotten so big! You used to be such a squirt."

"Nuh uh," I said. "You're just too big for everyone."

"So how's your mom? And your sisters?" Kalim asked.

"Mom's having a meltdown because I got suspended again." I dismissed that subject as quickly as I could. "My sisters are flying down to Mexico to see my dad this summer. I was going to go with them, but Mom thinks I need to be punished for my bad behavior." I rolled my eyes.

"Bummer," Kalim agreed. "So, where were you going in such a hurry?"

Then I remembered why I bumped into him in the first place. "Ah, crap! I'm supposed to be finding Silva's apartment."

Kalim laughed again. "Oh, is that it?" He turned and pointed in the direction behind him. "Follow this road until you get to the end. You'll find a dirt road there. Follow it until you get to a sign that says: 'Priest's Village.' That's where the officials live during the fight. Silva's is the fifth house on the left." He looked back at me. "Got it?"

I nodded slowly. "Um, I think so."

Kalim smiled. "Good. I hope you like it here." He sidestepped me and was on his way again. "Bye, Garie!" He called over his shoulder.

I waved at him, and then went back to running. As Kalim said, soon the stones of the road ended, and were replaced by dirt. The path wound its way through a forest and near the lake. As the path led me deeper into the forest, I began to feel a little antsy. What would happen if I got lost, or I got in trouble somehow? If I died out here, would I be found?

My thoughts continued like that until I finally came to the opening of the woods and I saw a large sign. Behind it, a row of houses was visible. I breathed a sigh of relief. _Good_, I thought. _I'm alive._

Just as Kalim had said, the right read "Priest's Village." In smaller letters it said, "Please do not enter unless you have special business with one of the Patch's ten priests. Thank you."

O-Kay.

I guess being grounded was considered special business, because nobody stopped me as I entered the "village." The houses weren't very grand. In fact, Silva was right when he called them apartments. They didn't seem to have more than three or four rooms in each. Five houses stood on my right, and five others stood on my left. Way at the other end of the street, past the last two houses, stood another house, much grander than the rest. I imagined that was where Goldva, the Patch chief, lived. I'd only met him once in my life, when I was very young. He was old and crinkly back then, with long silver hair. He always wore traditional Patch clothes, and a very stern expression. I wondered if he remembered me at all, and if he did, would he recognize me? Probably not.

At one point, when Mom used to bring my sisters and me to the village, I'd known all ten of the Patch officials. Most of them are pretty young, barely thirty. I think Silva had to be around twenty-six, give or take a year. They were all nice to me. They treated me like one of their own, even though I was only half Patch. After I turned six, though, Mom became too busy to bring me back to the village. After we moved to New Mexico, I thought we'd be coming back more often, but we never did. I never understood why. I mean, Mom grew up in this village. You'd think that she'd come visit her family sometimes. Of course, her parents did disown her, so that might be part of it.

I came to the fifth house on the left and walked up to the door. I took a deep breath, wondering how much trouble I was in for being late, and knocked. Almost immediately, the door swung open, and there stood my uncle, his eyes wide with anger.

"You're late." He growled, though I think he was kind of relieved on the inside.

"I know, sorry. I just got distracted, kind of."

He stepped away and led me inside. "Well, next time, at least try to be prompt. I don't want to be responsible for you if you can't follow my directions."

"Whatever." I looked around the room where we both stood. It was generally clean, I guess, save for a couple of bottles of what looked to be Japanese alcohol. Great, my uncle is an alcoholic.

I looked at him. "Do you live alone?"

Silva nodded. "During the Shaman Fight, yes, but on a normal schedule I live with my wife in our own house."

I looked at him quizzically. "Since when are you married?"

"I have been for about three years now." Silva responded, picking up his bottles and walking into what looked to be his kitchen. "But she doesn't usually come here. She prefers the village."

"Nice." I leaned against the wall. "Oh, my sister's getting married this summer."

Silva looked at me with a shocked expression. "The sixteen-year-old?"

I laughed. "No, of course not, I meant the one who's twenty-six. You know the one from Columbia."

"And she's getting married?" Silva asked.

I nodded. "Well, they're actually already married, but it was a private wedding, so they're having the public wedding in July."

"Are you going?"

I shrugged. "It's going to be in Mexico, so I have no idea. Dad's probably going to convince Mom to let me go, at least for a couple of weeks."

"Hm," Silva said thoughtfully, and then he looked at me again. "Come, I'll show you where you'll sleep."

I followed him. He led me down a hall, up some stairs, and down another hall. He finally stopped in front of a door, which he opened and stepped into. I followed, finding myself in a sort of small room with a big window that looked out onto the street. The bed wasn't really a bed, just a mattress pushed into a corner, with a couple of scratchy looking blankets folded neatly at the bottom. A worn, chipped, wooden dresser stood next to the window, complete with a small lamp and a cow skull. I stared at it.

"Um, is that thing real?" I asked, pointing at the skull.

Silva looked in the direction I was pointing. "Yeah," he said casually. "Why? Does it bother you?"

I grimaced. "Just a little, I mean, dead things in general make me kind of queasy."

Silva laughed with amusement. "You're not going to survive for very long, then."

I looked at him. "Huh?"

He picked up the cow skull and studied it as if it were some king of antique. "This is the Shaman Fight, Garie June. There is no mercy in most cases. It's all about survival."

I stared at him, confused. "Hold on." I held my hands up. "You mean there are actually people killing each other out there?"

Silva's expression darkened. "That's exactly what I mean. Some of those shamans out there will do anything to reach the end and win." He set the skull down again. "Even if it means destroying their opponents,"

"Geez." I muttered. My mind shot back to Yoh, and those guys who had been there after I'd fainted. Would any of them be capable of something like that? "You look upset." Silva observed. I looked at him, realizing I'd been lost in thought.

"It's just, well; I met some of those shamans today." I replied.

Silva's eyes narrowed. "You mean besides Yoh?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it was when I was walking near the lake. Something weird happened, and then I passed out. When I woke up two guys and a girl were standing over me."

Silva was looking at me, with curiosity and just a hint of concern. "You passed out? How?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. All I did was look at that giant spirit thing. What's it called? Oh yeah, the Great Spirit. Then I fainted."

The curiosity in my uncle's eyes increased. "And while you were 'passed out' as you say, did you see anything?"

My eyes narrowed. How did he know? "Yeah, it was weird. It was like going through a history book, but without the perky explanations."

"Did it all have to do with the Patch?" Silva asked, once again catching me by surprise.

"Most of it, yes." I answered. "What was it, anyway?"

Silva's smile returned. "You should feel lucky, Garie. Not a lot of people are blessed by the Great Spirit."

I blinked a couple of times. "Blessed?" I asked, still insanely confused.

Silva looked out the window. "What you saw were the 5.6 billion years of Patch history. Only certain shamans are chosen to be shown those visions."

"Wow, this place _is_ old!" I exclaimed, and then I remembered something. "Hold on. I also saw my whole life. How does that tie into it all?"

"When things get more modern, you begin to see more personal images." Silva replied. "The past affects the future, as do many things."

It felt to me like my mind was doing crazy 360 degree flips in the air. "Why would the Great Spirit bless me?"

Silva shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe they have special plans for you. No one can be sure. All I know is that while you're here, something great will happen to you."

I groaned. "Ugh, why?"

Silva's eyes narrowed. "Usually when I tell this to people, they jump for joy, or at the very least smile,"

"Well, I'm sorry if I'm not excited about this or anything," I tried to explain. "I just want to get this punishment over with. I don't need spirits showing me visions and making me do anything weird. I just want to prove to my mom that I'm capable of living through one month without beating anyone up, and leave while I still have a head. Can't I just tell this spirit 'thank you very much, I'd rather not be blessed'?"

Silva listened, wide-eyed, until I was done. Finally, he threw his head back and laughed loudly. "Wow, I never thought someone like you could be so ignorant of your own tribe." He calmed his laughter quickly. "You don't choose whether or not to be blessed. It just doesn't work that way." He stopped lecturing when he saw the expression of murder on my face. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Anyway, tell me, what happened when you woke up?"

I scratched my ear. "Um, there were three people arguing about how to wake me up. Then I opened my eyes and saw two dudes and a girl. One of the dudes was named Ren, and the girl was named Jordin. I didn't catch the other guy's name. We argued, I saw how late I was, and then I ran away."

"Oh, them," Silva said. "Well, be glad that it was them and not any of those other shamans."

"Are you serious?" I was kind of hoping he'd tell me something more helpful. "That Jordin chick said I was blonder than Paris Hilton!"

"If it had been someone like Hao, or even the X-laws, they would've done more than just call you names." Silva replied grimly. "Be careful around them, Garie. Some of them won't think twice about killing you."

I felt a shiver run down my spine. "What a crowd of creepers. Who's Hao?"

Silva looked out his window again, and then he looked at me again. "I have a meeting to get to now. I'll tell you when I get back."

"Well, that was random." I commented, following him down the stairs again.

"Sorry, but I've already wasted enough time talking." we were back in the living room, and his hand was on the doorknob. "Feel free to eat anything, as long as it's not alcoholic."

"Wouldn't dream of it,"

"I'll be back later." Silva opened the door. "I'm not going to tell you when to go to bed, but I'm waking you up early tomorrow, so get some rest."

Before I could answer, he was gone. "Well, hell!" I said out loud, listening to my voice echo shallowly in the empty house. I turned away from the door and began lugging my duffel bag up the stairs. When I got to "my room" I threw the bag on the bed and went to the dresser. The top drawer had no handle, but I was able to pull it out eventually. The other two stuck a little, but at least they had handles.

I got started unpacking. I stuffed all of my clothes into the drawers. My pants at the bottom, shirts in the middle, and underwear on top. All the books and notebooks I had packed went on top of the dresser, next to the cow skull, which I covered up with an old bandanna. When I was done unpacking, I began spreading the blankets on the small bed. I put the least scratchy blanket on first so that it wouldn't be too uncomfortable. When I was done, my cell phone's clock read 7:09p.m. I headed for the kitchen.

I quickly found out that my uncle didn't keep much in is kitchen except for ramen and alcohol. Gross. I hated alcohol, (seriously people, I'm fourteen), so ramen would have to do.

After a while of searching, I was able to find some pots under the stove. I filled a small one with water from the tap and boiled it. While that happened, I went on to find a good channel to watch on TV. I don't have one at home, so it's very refreshing to watch something after ten months of YouTube videos. I usually like cartoons or murder shows. I soon found out, though, that there were quite a few different languages on this TV. One channel was all Japanese, while another seemed to be completely in French. I found some in Spanish, which I understand quite well, thank you very much, but I hate dubbed movies, so I changed it again. Finally, I found Nickelodeon, in English.

By this time, my ramen was ready, so I settled in with my steaming bowl in a kitchen chair and watched cartoons until 11:00p.m.

**So here's the second chapter of my story. The Garie in this story is a lot like I am in real life. Her family, for example, is based on my own family, with different names, of course. My father does live in Mexico, and my mother was in fact disowned by her parents, so there's a lot about me within these words. There are also a lot of fictional aspects about this, but those will be a lot easier to figure out in later chapters. **


	3. work, work, and guess what? work

I lay in my small mattress bed the next morning, half asleep, singing Oasis in my head, when suddenly WHACK, WHACK, WHACK! I screamed and sat up, grabbing my ukulele and holding it in front of me like a sword.

"Wake up." I heard Silva's voice on the other side of the door. "It's almost time to leave."

I put down my ukulele and looked at the clock. "It's six in the morning!" I complained.

"I told you," he replied. "Now get ready and come down to breakfast. There's someone I want you to meet."

I yawned loudly and stretched. Who in their right mind wakes up so damn early in the summer? I went to the dresser and fought the drawers open. I threw on some jeans and a blue tank top, and then ran to the bathroom to do my hair. The night before, I had stuck my curly, dirty blond hair into a ponytail. Naturally, it was a mess after tossing and turning all night.

I used to have my hair all the way down to my waist, but it soon became too hard to maintain it well, so I cut it. Even now my hair is a whole other deal. I'm not supposed to brush it unless I'm taking a shower, and I have to put mousse in it every morning. I'd love to just leave it the way it is and move on with my life, but my sisters, (whom are the complete overlords of my image), will not let me. So there I was that morning, wondering what the heck I should do with my mess of a mane.

Finally, I just stuck it in a slightly tighter ponytail, leaving the wavy bangs out so that it looked cute enough, and left it at that. When that was over with, I washed my face with whatever hot water I managed to get out of the tap, brushed my teeth, strapped on my ukulele, and headed downstairs.

Silva was already down there, standing over a steaming pot of what smelled like oatmeal. The table was set with two spoons, some brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and even some honey. There was no one else in the room.

"I thought you said you wanted me to meet someone." I said, sitting down at the table.

"He'll be here soon, so be prepared." Silva replied, filling two bowls with mushy gray stuff.

"Good morning, Miss Garie." Erato suddenly said, appearing next to me.

"Hey, Erato," I said.

Silva set a bowl in front of me. "Is this your spirit?"

I nodded. "Her name is Erato."

"Nice to meet you Mr. Silva," Erato said politely. My mom used to think that I was a bad influence on her, but she's way more well-mannered than most spirits.

"She's the Greek muse of love poetry." I added, reaching for the cinnamon.

"Nice." Silva said, reaching for the sugar. "How did you get her?"

I grabbed the honey. "Dad took me to Greece with him on one of his symphony trips. We met there, and we've been friends ever since." Erato and I shared a smile.

"Ha!" I heard an echoing voice say. "Another one with a human spirit, how unoriginal," Suddenly, an eagle appeared on Silva's shoulder.

"What the heck is that?" I asked, somewhat insulted that this thing had called my spirit unoriginal.

"This is Silver Wing, one of my spirit companions." Silva explained.

"And I bet I'm a hundred times more powerful than that human of yours." Silver Wing continued in his screechy voice.

I raised the honey jar in my hand. "Hey, insult her again and this is going right through that annoying little beak of yours."

"She's right, Silver Wing." There was suddenly a rattlesnake, wrapped around my uncle's arm. "You shouldn't insult her just because you're better."

"Okay, how many talking animals do you have up your sleeve, Silva?" I said, getting somewhat annoyed with this.

"Only five," Silva said casually. He nodded towards the snake. "This is Silver Rod. There's also Silver Shell," a turtle appeared on the table. A turtle. Are you serious? "Silver Tail," then there was a coyote. Wow. "And Silver Horn," That was the weirdest thing. A buffalo appeared, right on the kitchen floor.

"How come you have five spirits?" I said, trying not to sound too alarmed.

Silva's eyes traveled to his rings. "These spirits have been passed down in our family for a very long time. They were given to me by my father, and I will pass them down to my children."

"Okay."

"Have you been training at all lately?" Silva asked, totally out of random.

I stirred my oatmeal thoughtfully. "It's kind of hard to find a good place to train without people giving you weird looks. Sometimes I sneak off to the desert, but Mom says that's too dangerous."

"Don't you take karate or something?" Silva asked without looking up.

I nodded. "It's the one thing my mom will let me do besides music. She thinks all this spirit stuff is interfering with my school stuff. Of course it shouldn't matter." I shoved in a spoonful of oatmeal. "I'm a straight A student, even if I do get in trouble sometimes."

"Ha! Boasting about yourself." Silver Wing sniffed with an air of arrogance. "That is not a good trait in a woman." Silva sent him a glare, and the annoying bird shut his mouth

After a pause, Silva said. "There's a training center down the street of the restaurant. If you want, you can train there after work."

"Sounds good," I said, hoping to show some enthusiasm, but I failed. Dude, I was tired.

"GOOD MORNING!" A very loud voice said, making me almost choke on my breakfast.

"Where the hell did that come from?" I asked, looking around very quickly.

Silva looked casually at the TV screen behind me. "Good morning, Goldva-sama."

I looked behind me, and found myself looking at a very crinkly of man, in the TV. Oh, and he was looking right at me. Creepy, huh?

"Uh, is the TV talking to us?" I asked nervously.

Silva laughed. "Of course not, that's Goldva. You remember him, don't you Garie?"

"Uh, yeah, kind of," I said, still just a little bit freaked out. "But, um, why is he on TV?"

"It's not just a TV young lady." Goldva replied, making me jump. "It's a Patch monitor, which allows me to communicate with the priests. It was invented right here."

"That's kind of creepy, you know." I admitted to him. "Besides the fact that it's a very cool invention and all, it still freaks me out a little. I almost choked on my breakfast you know."

"There's no need for that," Goldva said to me in his old man voice. "The only reason I ever use this is to make announcements of sorts. So, you're Garie Sullivan, one of Silva's nieces, right?"

"Uh, yeah, one of them," I answered.

Goldva started to study me. He looked at me, and I swear, he paused longer than he should have on my chest. "Well, you seem fit, but I'm not sure how strong you are." He turned to Silva. "We might have to test her."

"Test me?" I asked. "For what?"

"Goldva has decided to see if you have the makings of a priestess." Silva informed me, taking his now empty bowl to the sink.

My eyes narrowed. "Why would I want to be a priestess?"

"Well, I don't suppose you would. It's a lot of hard work." Goldva said. "My granddaughters, Lip and Rap, are training to be priestesses, and even they think it's too hard."

"I thought to be a priestess you have to start from, like, birth." I argued. "I'm fourteen."

"Which is why we need to get started right away," Goldva replied.

"Um, does this mean I don't have to work anymore?" I asked hopefully. "Because if that's the case, then I'll do it more than gladly,"

"No." Silva said firmly. "It just means that your schedule will be different."

Goldva nodded. "Today you will fight one of my priests. That will give me some idea of what your level is. Do you know how to make an oversoul?"

"Doesn't everyone?" I asked. I mean, how hard is it to make an oversoul?

"That's debatable." Silva muttered.

"It's settled then." Goldva decided. "Silva, you will take her to the desert arena at four o'clock."

"Who will she fight?" Silva asked in all seriousness.

Goldva studied me again. "Nichrom,"

Silva's eyes narrowed. Somehow, he seemed unhappy. I, on the other hand, was busy enough trying to remember who the hell Nichrom was. I knew the name, but from where? And another thing: Why the hell did they want me to fight? Seriously! I didn't even want to be a priestess. I just wanted to get that stupid punishment over with! Or was this yet another event meant to make my life ten times harder?

"See you at the arena." Goldva said, and then the screen went black.

I sat there in shock for a couple of seconds. Then: "What the hell was that about?"

"Looks like the chief's taken an interest in you," Silva said casually. "Now come on, we have to get going."

I still felt slightly shocked, but I followed him anyway. As we walked down the street, he yelled greetings to the other officials we saw. Kalim came out of his house just as we passed it, so he walked along with us.

"How's it going, Garie?" Kalim asked.

"Oh, you know, I'm just here, wallowing in self-pity and waiting for the moment when I have to fight some dude named Nichrom."

Kalim nodded. "So you decided who you're fighting?"

"It was Goldva's decision." Silva answered for me.

"I don't have much of a choice." I muttered.

"That Nichrom is a weird one." Kalim said thoughtfully. "Ever since Chrom died he's been acting strange." He looked at me. "You do remember Chrom, right?"

I thought back for a moment. "Yeah, I think he was the one who taught me how to play that wooden flute the last time I was here." I suddenly realized that he and I had been good friends. Why hadn't anyone told me he had died? "How did it happen?"

Both Kalim and Silva stared forward with stone-like expressions. "He was murdered." Silva responded, and then he looked back at me. "But you have to remember that being an official brings many problems. The death of an official isn't uncommon."

"Try not to mention Chrom when you're fighting this afternoon." Kalim said. "Nichrom gets offended easily."

"Good to know." I said, feeling lower than I had all morning. We continued to walk, Kalim and Silva arguing about this and that having to do with the fight, and me trailing silently behind them, my feet dragging and my eyes cast down. Why should I have to fight anyone? All I was here for was to work for my uncle and such. Why add to my worries?

Before I knew it, we were out of the forest and in the main village. Only a few people were out, since it was barely seven in the morning. There were some early morning joggers out, but not much else. Just as we were nearing the restaurant, someone behind us called:

"Hi Silva! Hi Kalim!"

All three of us turned to see a girl of maybe thirteen years coming out of a building. She was short, with long brown hair that had a red ribbon tied in it, and bright violet eyes. As she stepped out of the way, someone else emerged from the building and stood next to her. The someone was that one dude I'd met after passing out by the lake. Ren.

"Good morning, May." Silva called warmly as the pair came towards us. "What are you doing out so early?"

May and Ren stopped in front of us. She smiled warmly, he just looked annoyed. Evidently, his mean kid attitude was there all the time.

"We're going to the training center. We want to get some training done before the place starts filling up." May replied, and then she looked at me. "Who's this?"

Silva replied before I could say anything. "This is my niece, Garie June." Silva said. "She's staying with me for a while because she's grounded."

"Thanks for announcing it, Silva." I said sarcastically.

"Aren't you that girl who fainted yesterday?" Ren asked. He had a weird way of speaking English. Where was he from?

"Yeah, so?" I replied. "What, you've never fainted before?"

"Uh, no," He said.

May laughed. "Don't bother with him. He's not very sociable." She told me. "My name is May, and this is my friend, Tao Ren. We're contestants in the Shaman Fight."

"Hm," I said. "You look a lot like that Yoh guy."

"You know Yoh?" May asked, surprised.

"Yes. I met him yesterday at the restaurant. Is he your brother or something?"

May laughed. "No, but we're good friends."

"Weird," I said. "I could've sworn you were related."

May shrugged. "You're the one with the ukulele, then? He wanted to know if you could teach him how to play it."

I shrugged. "I'm not that great of a teacher, but if he wants to, then sure." Imagine that, a cute boy asking me for lessons. Aw.

"Sweet," She said. "I'll tell him."

Suddenly, Ren said something to May, but it wasn't in any language I knew. It didn't sound like Japanese, though, so I went with Chinese. May replied in the same language, and when Ren replied, she looked back at me. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Garie."

"Likewise," I replied as Ren led her away. I looked at Silva. "Why is she dating that pushy guy?"

Silva looked at me with raised eyebrows. "She's not. Ren and May are just friends."

"As far as we know, at least," Kalim said with a mischievous smile.

"Then why is he so, you know, protective over her?" I asked as we started walking again.

Silva shrugged. "Maybe he just doesn't like you."

"I wouldn't be surprised." Kalim agreed. "Tao Ren doesn't really like anyone."

"Well, he certainly has a thing for May, doesn't he?" I giggled. Sometimes I hate my girly side, but it's necessary. "Maybe I could set them up while I'm here."

Silva looked at me. "Try not to make him mad, okay? He may not be the most dangerous person around here, but he can fight without mercy."

"I'll keep that in mind." Too bad for him, he didn't know I was already thinking of ways to set those two up. How old were they, anyway? Ah, it doesn't matter. Love conquers all, doesn't it?

I was immediately put to work once we got to the restaurant. First I had to sweep the floor, wash the windows, and take down all the chairs and stools that had been stacked on the tables the night before. When that was done, I had to wash the tables and polish them with lemon oil, (I think Silva just made me do that for no reason), then I had to scrub the counter, put salt and pepper shakers and napkins on every table, and do whatever the heck Silva could think of to keep me busy. When I was finally done with that, he handed me an apron and a hair net.

"You're on dishes for the rest of the day." He told me.

"Dishes? Ew," I complained. "I thought I was going to be like a waitress or something."

"If you do your job well, maybe then I'll promote you to waitressing." Silva said as the first few customers began to arrive. "Now get to work."

I stalked into the kitchen. "A sus órdenes su majestad," I said. Yeah, I usually only speak Spanish to complain and to make fun of people. This seemed like a good time to complain.

Washing dishes was disgusting. First, I had to get rid of whatever gross residue was left on the plate. In some cases, I had to scrub so hard that it hurt my wrist. Then I loaded all the fairly clean dishes into a disinfecting machine (I call it Henry) to make sure there were no germs left. After that, the dishes were dried, stacked, and ready to be used again.

By lunch, I was worn out and my fingers felt clammy from dishwater. Silva told me I could take a break, so I took advantage of that and sat at an unoccupied table and took out my cellphone. In the past few hours, I had missed three calls, one from my little sister, and the other two from my best friend, Karissa. I figured I should call her back before she began to think that I died or something.

She picked up on the third ring. "Garie! You're alive!" What'd I tell you?

"Yeah, amazingly," I replied. "What's up, K?"

"Well," she said, and I knew we'd be here for a while. "I've been hanging out mostly, but OMG! You will not believe what happened!" She went on to tell me about the guy she liked and I listened with excitement, gasping and laughing at all the right times.

"What about you?" Karissa asked when she finished. "How's it going at, well, where did you say you were going?"

"It's called the Patch Village, my uncle lives here. It's smack dab in The Middle of Nowhere, Colorado." I explained. "Turns out, not only am I grounded, but now I'm supposed to both work, and fight some dude I've never met."

"That doesn't make sense. You got taken there for fighting at school." K said, confused, and then added, "Which I am eternally grateful for."

"I did, but that was technically just me beating someone up." I told her. "This is more spiritual fighting. You know, like oversouls and stuff." Karissa wasn't a shaman like me, but once I accidentally possessed her with my spirit to see what would happen, (hey, aren't science teachers always telling you to experiment)? The result was her being able to see spirits, but it left her in a much freaked out state for a very long time. I've been apologizing for the past four years, and that's about the amount of time I've known her.

"Will you be okay?" She asked. I love her because she's so sweet to me. I always wonder how she can be friends with someone as weird as me.

"I'll be fine," I said. "Or maybe I'll get lucky and he'll kill me just to get it over with."

"NO, you're not allowed to die." Karissa said with finality. "What would I do without you? I'd have nobody to go to the mall with, or drink coffee with… I'd be all alone!"

"Don't worry, I'll come back." I assured her. "Ugh, being a dishwasher is so gross."

"Dishes? Ew," K agreed. "Why did your uncle make you a dishwasher?"

"He says I have to work hard if I want to be a waitress." I sighed. "I never thought working could be so disgusting."

"No kidding." K said. "Well, if you ever get sad or something, just call me, okay?"

"You're so sweet." I said. I looked to see that Silva was signaling me over. "Well, looks like my break is over. I'll call you later, okay?"

"Okay. Bye, I love you Garie!" Karissa said.

"Love you too, K." I said, and then I hung up. My feet hurt from standing up for so long, but I trudged back behind the counter, where my uncle was waiting.

"Who were you talking to?" He asked curiously.

"My friend Karissa," I said, putting my apron back on. "She agrees that being a dishwasher is very disgusting."

"Is she a shaman?" he asked.

"Nah," I replied. "Well, she sees spirits, but that's mostly my fault."

"Okay then." Silva said. I guess I should've explained it to him, but I was way too tired for that. Silva didn't ask anyway. "Well, I want you to keep working until two thirty. After that, you can train for a while before your fight."

"You do realize I'm probably going to lose quite miserably." I said. "I haven't fought with another shaman in years."

"Think of it as a step up from beating up regular humans," he replied, handing me a dishtowel.

**Here's a little note. _A sus ordenes su majestad _****is a phrase I say a lot which translates roughly into _As you order, your majesty, _just in case you were wondering about that :D**


	4. Pain isn't optional, dammit

**Welcome to…this chapter! Hope you've enjoyed my large amount of sarcasm up until now, and be ready for more, cuz here it comes! Just some notes here before we start again: This is the part in the manga **_**before**_** Yoh finds out that he's Hao's brother. The OC that I introduced to you earlier, May, is Hao's little sister. If you have any questions about my characters, please ask me. I love answering questions :D (as long as they aren't repetitive).**

I did what he told me and worked my butt off until 2:30 p.m. By then, both my arms ached considerably, and my legs were completely stiff. I was very happy to be done, though, so I threw down my apron and ran out of the restaurant. Oh, the sweet taste of freedom, even if not everlasting. Now all I had to do was find the flippin' training center!

It wasn't too hard to find, I must admit. There were signs all over the place. There must be an overpopulation of stupid people in this town, because the signs were a little too specific. Soon, I found myself in front of a huge building. Inside was amazing. I mean, dude, I've been to gyms before, but they were nothing like this. There were several rooms, all with different training gear. One was full of treadmills and those weird bicycle machines. Another had a bunch of people doing yoga and aerobics. Outside, a gigantic courtyard was used for oversoul practice.

One room, (my personal favorite), was a place completely dedicated to martial arts. Thank the Lord! I'm in heaven!

I spent about half an hour doing stretches. After that, I started refreshing my karate. I started taking lessons when I was five. I think it was Silva who convinced my mom that I needed to be trained in some way. Don't know why she chose karate, but hey, I've been doing it ever since, so I'm fine at it.

By the time I was done, a small crowd of people had gathered around me, all staring at the strange girl who had invaded the training center and ripped open a punching bag. Visitor from planet karate. Who is this girl?

Among the viewers was the same blue-haired dude who had been with Ren the day before. He ran up to me as I headed outside.

"Hey, you're that girl from yesterday, right?" He asked me.

I stuck my hand out. "Garie Sullivan; nice to meet you,"

"Horo Horo." He replied, shaking my hand.

I held back a laugh. "Okay, honestly, where are you from? I have never heard a name like that in my life."

"Hokkaido, Japan." He said, his eyes narrowing. "Don't make fun of my name. I thought Gary was a guy name."

"It's G-a-r-i-e, you know, the girl spelling. The one with a y is the guy spelling." I replied. "So, why are you talking to me?"

Horo Horo looked at me for a second. "You said you're a shaman, right?"

I nodded. "Why? Is it that hard to believe?"

"No, no, of course not," Horo Horo said quickly. "Well, what I mean is, are you in the Shaman Fight?"

I shook my head. "I wish, but no. I'm just here to face punishment, and to possibly be killed."

"I don't get it." Horo Horo said.

I waved my hand. "Don't bother, it's complicated. I'm just grounded so I have to work for my uncle for a while."

"Does that mean you're going to be killed?" Horo Horo asked, following me outside.

"No, the dying part comes when I fight one of the officials against my will."

"Why would you do that?"

"I said it was against my will, didn't I?" We were outside now, standing near some shamans practicing their oversouls. "Anyway, I want to get some training done before. You know, so that my chances of dying aren't that high and all."

"Well, let me help you then." Horo Horo said. (Aw, what a sweetheart!) "If you want I'll fight you right now, just to get some practice." He grinned. "Oh, and don't worry, I'll go easy on you."

I rolled my eyes, but then I smiled. "All right, you can fight me. Just don't get mad at me when you lose."

"You sound confident." He laughed. "Though I wonder how confident you'll be after I-" Before he could finish, I grabbed his shoulders and slammed him to the ground.

"Do you ever stop talking?" I asked, trying not to laugh at his shocked expression.

"Th-that was unfair!" He yelled. "I wasn't ready!" He picked himself. His face was red, and he looked around nervously and saw that everyone was staring. Poor guy, I know exactly what it's like to be in that position.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you to expect the unexpected?" I laughed. "You hardly look strong enough to wrestle a kitten."

He glared at me. "Fine, if that's the way you want it," Horo Horo reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked to be a wooden stick. "Kororo in ikkupasui; oversoul!"

A very small spirit appeared, and I almost squealed at how cute she was. She had huge eyes, and she was holding a flat, green leaf over her shoulder. She was wearing the same native designs that Horo Horo had on his clothing and bandanna. She went into his stick, making it glow, expand, and turn blue. Fancy that.

"I hope you're ready for this, Garie spelled with an i-e." He laughed at his stupid little joke. "You're going to eat your own words."

I scratched my head. "Um, okay, Erato, I think you better come out now."

"As you wish, Miss Garie," She said, appearing next to me.

"Yay," I smiled and grabbed my ukulele, which I had luckily brought with me. See how I'm always prepared? Ha, right. "Erato, oversoul, scythe of lyrics," Suddenly, my ukulele was no longer a ukulele, but a huge scythe. It was all black, but it glowed with colorful light, making it not as creepy as it could be. I'm not really sure why this is my oversoul and not something more, um, karate-ish, I suppose.

I looked at my opponent. "You know, I haven't fought like this in a while, so sorry if I'm a little rusty."

Horo Horo laughed. "Bring it, Blondie."

I shrugged. "Okay." I ran towards him, aiming for his chest. He threw his first attack at me, which looked to be icicles or something. At the last minute, though, I ducked and went for his legs instead. I knocked him clean off his feet.

"Wow," I said, amazed. "That was easier than I thought."

Horo Horo was staring at me. He looked kind of funny, sitting on his butt and staring at me like a fish. "H-how the hell did you do that?"

"Want me to do it again?" I suggested, smiling sweetly.

"No," He said, standing up again. "I mean, I've been training with my oversoul for most of my life. I've fought more shamans than I could possibly count. You haven't fought anyone. How could you knock me down?"

I shrugged. "I said I haven't fought in a while, not that I was bad at it." I looked at his hurt expression, and I stared to get sad. "Look, don't be mad at me. If I don't win this fight today, the whole tribe will probably disown me, or even do something worse. Do you have any idea how ashamed my family will be of me if I don't pass this test? They'll be all mad, and then I'll be sad, and I really don't want to be sad, so I really need you to help me." My voice was getting very high and whiny. Ugh.

Horo Horo looked at me with distrust. Then his expression softened. "Fine, I'll help you. Even though it's humiliating, but I'm a good person, and I don't turn my back on people in need. Although, I do want you to promise me something,"

"What?" I asked, feeling slightly dizzy from his speech.

"After you win today, you have to teach me some of those moves of yours." He smiled brightly, raising his oversoul.

I smiled back. "Consider it done." I checked my clock on my cellphone. "Sweet, looks like I've got time. Let's get moving."

We fought as hard as we could. I knocked him down five more times. Poor guy. He tried acting like it was nothing, but I knew he was pissed. I wonder if beating this guy was that easy, how hard could it be to win the Shaman Fight?

It was almost four when we finished. I felt awesome, like I could take on anyone. I also felt a little bit drained, but I was sure that would pass. Horo Horo on the other hand, was not as happy.

"Damn it, I can't believe I got beat by a girl!" He said as we walked out of the training center.

I wanted to reply, but suddenly I heard someone call: "Hey Garie, hi Horo Horo."

I looked back and there near the entrance to the center, stood Yoh. Well, he wasn't really standing. He was actually in a sitting position, but he wasn't sitting on anything. His arms were stretched out before him, and on them he held a stack of clay pots. He was shaking violently, but he didn't move out of the position. Farther away stood a tall, blond girl with a red bandana around her neck, holding a stopwatch, and next to her stood a very short boy with sandy blond hair.

"Hi." I said, very unsure of how I should react to the scene before me. "Uh, what are you doing?"

"Training," Yoh replied simply, and then he turned to the other blond girl. "Anna, is it almost time?"

The girl, Anna, checked the watch. "All right, you can rest now."

Yoh sighed with relief. As he put his arms down, though, the pot on the top started slipping. I rushed forward to steady Yoh before the pot could fall on him.

Yoh smiled brightly. "Thanks."

"My pleasure," Together we lowered the pots to the ground. Damn, they were heavy! The girl, Anna, and the shorter kid came to stand near Yoh.

"You're Garie, then?" Anna said, looking at me coldly.

I nodded. "At your service,"

"Don't say that," Horo Horo said under his breath. I looked at him questioningly. He didn't say anything else.

Yoh looked nervously at Anna. I wondered what their relationship was. Probably siblings or cousins; they kind of looked alike.

"Um, Garie, this is my friend Manta." Yoh gestured to the short kid, who waved at me. I waved back. "And this is Anna. She's my, uh. . ."

"His fiancée," Anna finished for him.

It took me a couple of seconds. I'm not entirely sure how a normal person would reply to something like that. Nevertheless, I was shocked. I was also angry, but that's different. I turned to Yoh.

"Okay, let me get this straight." I said a lot calmer than I felt. "You're engaged."

He nodded. "Pretty much, yeah,"

I nodded, still taking it in. "Well, that's interesting."

Yoh looked at me with amazement. "That's all you're going to say?"

"What am I supposed to say?" I asked.

"Well, usually people get kind of freaked out when I tell them that."

I laughed. "Dude, I could tell you a million things about me that would freak you out, but it doesn't make me less human. So, tell me, was it arranged, or on you own accord?"

"Arranged," Anna replied in monotone.

"Okay, that makes it a lot more believable." I said.

"You're really not shocked at all, are you?" Yoh said. I was shocked, but mostly only from the fact that I'd never get a chance to date him. Ah, whatever. Some guys are gay, others are engaged. That's life for ya honey.

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I have a fight to get to." I said, checking my cellphone. "Which is going to start in about ten minutes," I turned to go.

"Hold on." Yoh said. "What do you mean? I thought you weren't a contestant."

I turned back, hating to have to explain this yet again. I ran through the events in a very unexciting manner. "My uncle wants me to become a priestess, so now I have to fight some Patch dude to see if I qualify or something. Now, if you don't mind, I really have to get going."

"Okay, come on." Yoh grabbed my arm and started leading me back towards the restaurant. Everyone else followed.

"Um, Yoh, it's okay if you want to come, but please let go of my arm." I said.

Yoh laughed and let go of my arm. "So where are you from, Garie?" We were walking at a fast pace, but apparently he still felt the need to make conversation.

"I was born in Mexico," I said. "I lived there until I was about nine years old. Now I live in New Mexico with my mom and two of my sisters."

The short kid, Manta, looked at me through squinting eyes. "You don't look or sound Mexican at all."

"So I've heard." I muttered. I shrugged and smiled at him. "Actually, both of my parents are American, so I'm obviously not going to look very Mexican."

"That makes sense." Yoh agreed, smiling.

"Why did you leave Mexico?" Horo Horo asked me.

"Hm," I really didn't like this subject too much. "Because Mom got sick of living down there, so she left Dad and took us with her."

"So your dad still lives in Mexico?" Manta asked.

I nodded. "I go see him every summer. I have a few sisters who live down there with him, so we always make this huge deal about getting my other sisters and me over there. Sometimes we have sibling reunions. I say that because we don't have enough contacts or money to make real family reunions."

"How many siblings do you have?" Horo Horo asked.

"Eight." I replied without hesitation.

Around me, everyone stopped except me and Anna. We both turned, my expression questioning, hers annoyed.

"Eight?" The three boys asked at the same time.

"Yeah," I said slowly. "Five sisters, one brother, and two stepsisters,"

"That's a lot." Yoh said, very impressed.

"See? Told you I could freak you out," I told Yoh as I started walking again. "I guess it would make more sense if I told you that only one of them is my real biological sister."

"What, are they all adopted?" Horo Horo asked, walking next to me.

I shook my head. "No, it's just that we all have the same dad, but different moms."

"That's a very complicated family." Yoh said.

"Yeah," Horo Horo agreed. "I only have one sister and I can barely stand her."

"Same with my sister," Manta commented. "How do you manage?" He asked with admiration.

I laughed. "I don't. I only live with two of my sisters, and believe me, they're a handful. Most of my other siblings are over eighteen, and two of them are already married. Another one of my sisters is getting married this summer."

"That's hard to keep up with." Yoh said in a confused tone.

"It gets easier once you get used to it." I said.

"Your father must be a very strong man," Anna said in a soft voice. "To be able to take care of so many children,"

"I guess it helped him that none of us lived in the same places." I said to her. "We were all raised by our moms, though. Dad never really had much to do with us."

Yoh nodded. "I understand."

I looked at him from the corner of my eye. Looks like I wasn't the only one around here with a very dysfunctional family.

After an awkward silence of sorts, Manta turned to me again. "So, who are you fighting anyway?"

I shrugged. "Some guy named Nichrom. I knew his brother, but I'm not sure if I ever really met him."

I stopped, because for some reason, Horo Horo and Yoh had stopped again. "What did I say this time?"

"You're fighting Nichrom?" Horo asked nervously.

"Didn't I just say that?"

Horo Horo exchanged a look with Yoh. "I don't think I should go to this fight." Horo said.

"Why not?" I crossed my arms over my chest. Horo Horo took a step back.

"Listen, there's bad blood between Nichrom and one of my teammates. I don't want to infuriate him by showing up there. Sorry." He began turning around to leave. "If you win, though, or, even if you don't, let me know. You're a cool person, Garie. Be careful." Then he just walked away! What the crap?

I was about to follow him, but Yoh grabbed my shoulder. I turned to see that he was smiling at me, although he looked kind of sad when he said these next words to me.

"Don't worry about him, Garie. Horo Horo just isn't good at dealing with certain things."

I looked back to watch Horo Horo walk away. I sighed. "I'm not sure what his problem is, but I guess it doesn't matter. I have a fight to get to." I kept walking, not caring if the other guys were following or not. What could have happened between Nichrom and Horo's teammate that would make Horo Horo so scared to so much as watch my fight?

My luck sucked that day, because right as I was reaching for the restaurant door, May, the little brunette from earlier, walked out. She was followed by a redheaded girl who was slightly shorter than me.

"Hi Garie," May said sweetly. "How are you?"

I shrugged. "Pissed off,"

May immediately gave Yoh, who was standing next to me with his hands in his pockets, a concerned look. "Is Yoh bothering you?"

I glanced at Yoh. "No, he's cool." I waved my hand. "It's nothing, really. I'm just insanely nervous. You have no idea."

"Really? Why?" The redhead asked me. She had an Australian accent. Cool.

I shook my head. "Never mind, it's just that my uncle set up a fight for me against this dude, Nichrom. But apparently he's insanely dangerous or something because people are talking to me like I'm going to die."

"I don't think it's that bad." Yoh said. "Just don't worry about it. It'll all turn out well in the end."

May's eyes narrowed, but she looked more lost in thought than anything else. "I don't think you'll die, but there is a possibility that you'll be seriously injured."

"Gee, thanks." I sighed. "What's the guy's problem, anyway? I mean, I'd be sad if my brother died, too. Anyone would be. Why drag it out and take your anger out on someone else for it, though? Why not just move on?"

May and the redhead exchanged looks.

"I don't know Nichrom that well." May admitted. "I try to stay away from him, most of the time. I think the reason he's mad is because the one who murdered his brother is still a participant in the fight."

"They really let someone who murdered an official enter the fight?" I thought suddenly of Silva, and Kalim. What if it had been them? How would I feel, knowing that my own uncle, or one of his friends, was killed by a contestant in the Shaman Fight? One thing's for sure. I would never let that person get away with it.

"Many of the people involved in this fight have done terrible things in their past, Garie." Yoh said in a low voice. He suddenly smiled. "That doesn't mean that they can't change. Ren's no different. I know he'd never do something like that again."

I let what he'd said settle in my mind for a second. Then I understood. "It was Ren?" I was shocked, hurt, confused, and all those other things that make you uncomfortable. I also suddenly felt the need to call everyone on my speed dial and tell them that I'd met a murderer, but that wasn't important. A Patch priest had been murdered by their friend. "Ren killed Chrom?" I suddenly felt a little lightheaded. I leaned against the glass door for support. "Holy crap, no wonder Horo ditched me like that."

"What were you doing with Horo Horo?" The redhead asked.

"Garie, please try to understand." May said, completely ignoring the redhead's comment. "I don't know what made him do it, but he's different now."

I took a deep breath. Now I understood why Nichrom was the way he was. His brother had been killed, and the murderer was still out there. Why hadn't Silva told me? He'd introduced me to Ren in the first place. Why would he have me befriend a murderer? He wouldn't. That's what it all amounts to.

"Listen, I've never dealt with this type of issue before, but I get what you're saying." I said calmly. "Ren isn't a murderer anymore. But there's a kid out there who thinks he is, and that kid is never going to be able to move on. Not unless something happens to Ren that'll satisfy Nichrom."

Anna suddenly spoke up. "That is very true, Garie. Although you should know that the only thing that will satisfy Nichrom is Ren's own death."

May's eyes widened, but she took a deep breath. "Ren will do what is right. I know he will. For now, I hope you have good luck in your fight, Garie."

"Me too," I said, rubbing my temples. "Though now I feel like I'm going to pass out any second." Yoh patted my shoulder, and just then, Silva walked out of the restaurant. I studied him for a second. He was wearing some kind of very long black and white cape that fell to his ankles.

"Uh, what are you wearing?" I asked.

"This is my uniform. Every official has one." Silva responded. He looked down at himself curiously. "Why, what's wrong with it?"

I shook my head, feeling the sarcasm rise in my throat. "Nothing, it's fine."

"Well, it's about time we got going." He turned to everyone else. "Are you guys coming?"

Yoh and Manta nodded, so I just assumed that that meant that Anna was coming too.

"I'll go." May said. "I was looking for something entertaining to do anyway."

"I'll go too, then." The redhead said.

"I never learned your name." I told her.

She smiled at me for the first time. She seemed just a little bit like a diva, or maybe that's just me. "It's Samantha, but you can call me Sam. Everyone does."

"Sweet," I said as Silva started leading us towards the place where the fight would be held. As the group of friends walked together, Silva summoned me to walk next to him.

"What were you guys talking about?" He asked me so that no one else could hear. "May looked kind of upset."

I looked back at May. She was walking next to Anna, their arms linked, and they seemed to be deep in conversation.

"Nothing much," I replied. "We were just talking." I decided to change the subject. "So while I was training, I met this dude named Horo Horo. I knocked him down like six times."

"Poor guy," Silva laughed. "He hates getting beaten by anyone in a fight. It must've made it worse that it was a girl who beat him."

"He mentioned that." I recalled.

"So I assume you're making some good friends." He said.

I looked at Yoh. He was walking with Manta, laughing loudly together. I shrugged. "Call them acquaintances for now, but they're cool. Except Ren. His attitude pissed me off. I have no idea what May sees in him."

Silva sighed. "I'm telling you, Garie. Drop the subject. Don't get too deep into things that don't concern you."

"Fine, whatever," I went to talk to Yoh for a while, and we once again got onto the subject of music. Soon, we were laughing and joking around like old pals. Manta didn't know much about music, but he was really into computers, which is another one of my hobbies. Why is it that I make better friends with guys than girls?

Anyway, the buildings began thinning out, and soon there was nothing but sand all around us. It reminded me a lot of New Mexico, but there weren't nearly as many Yucca plants here. There was almost no vegetation whatsoever.

I was glad Silva actually knew where we were going, because I would probably get lost on my own. After a while, Silva stopped at the edge of a cliff. I followed him, finding myself looking down at a large, oval-shaped valley. All around the valley, different crowds were gathered. There was a group of people dressed completely in white at one end, and opposite of them a group who had nothing in common. In that group, though, there was a dude who looked exactly like Yoh, but with longer hair. How many siblings did he have?

"Um, Silva," I said nervously. "Just how many people did you invite to this thing?"

"Anyone is allowed to view a shaman fight, Garie. I thought you knew that." Silva told me. "All the fights here are open to the public. It's almost the point of the whole thing."

"Now you tell me." I muttered. I turned to Yoh, who still stood next to me. "So who's the guy who looks like you over there?"

Silva looked in the direction I was pointing at, and answered before Yoh could. "That's Hao. Stay away from him, got it?"

"Oh, that's Hao." I said. "He doesn't look all that dangerous. What's so bad about him anyway?"

Yoh shrugged. "I don't know that much about him, only that he's May's older brother. He has a bunch of followers that tried to kill us a while back, and some people say he's a murderer."

I shuddered. "Okay, I guess murder isn't the best of traits for a guy to have. What about those dudes in the white? What's their problem?"

"The X-laws," Sam replied with distaste. "They're supposed to be Hao's sworn enemy, but they do their fair share of murder."

"Jeez!" I exclaimed. "What the heck is this? A soap opera?"

Silva gave me a look that told me to shut my mouth. I looked ahead and suddenly I saw the rest of the Patch officials emerge from the other side of the valley. The shortest one there walked right off the edge and jumped down, sending up a cloud of dust when he landed. Tsk, showoff.

"It's time." Silva said, walking down a path that led to the bottom. I followed him, wondering why the hell I had chosen to wear jeans that day. Silva walked me to the middle of the valley, where the guy waited, accompanied by another official named Radim.

"Nice to see you again, G," Radim said, giving me a high five. "How do you feel?"

"Like I'm about to spill out my guts." I replied.

Radim laughed. "That's always how it is the first time. Don't worry, though. It gets worse."

"Do I really need to hear that?" I complained.

"I assume you're Garie Sullivan then?" The short guy said. (Emphasize short. I think I had maybe six inches on him. How did this guy become an official?) Unlike the other officials, who were wearing the same outfit as Silva, this guy was wearing nothing but baggy sweatpants and his headband. I'd say he looked hot shirtless, but he didn't. This guy was skinny. Super skinny. I think my sister had more fat on her than this guy, and she's the most obsessive person about weight in existence.

"You shouldn't assume." Could I make this guy laugh? Time to find out. "It makes an ass out of you and me." Hey, Radim laughed.

The boy, on the other hand, just rolled his eyes. "I can't believe Goldva thinks you could be a priestess. You're nothing but a white chick."

"Don't go dissin' on my color you jerk; I'm just as much of a Patch as you are."

"Half Patch," Nichrom said. "Don't forget what you're dear old dad is."

"I dare you to talk about my dad like that you—"

Radim cleared his throat. "If you two don't mind, it's about time we got started."

"Good." I said with my eyes still on Nichrom. "I can't wait to kick this guy's ass."

"The feeling is mutual." Nichrom said with a tight smile.

Radim shrugged. "Suit yourselves." He pulled out a very odd-looking microphone with the carving of some kind of bird on it. He addressed the public:

"WELCOME! Today is a very special occasion, because we are about to admit a brand-new priestess into the Patch tribe." I looked around to see that everyone was cheering. I love it when people clap for me! What I found very weird was that Radim's voice was being amplified, but I didn't see any amps. How was he doing that?

"Here are the rules," Radim continued. "Garie, to pass this test, you must hit Nichrom once with your oversoul."

"That's it'?" I asked. That sounded way too easy. Nichrom laughed. He had a very evil laugh.

"Idiot, this isn't going to be as easy as knocking down that hotheaded Ainu." Nichrom stared at me with his creepy black eyes. He had orange paint under each of his eyes, which made them all the creepier.

I grabbed my ukulele by the neck, feeling more lightheaded than before. "How the heck do you know that I fought Horo Horo earlier?"

Nichrom turned to Radim and said coolly. "Don't you think it's about time we got this fight started?"

Radim stared at him with an unsure expression. He turned to Silva, who still stood behind me, wearing a very grave expression. Silva nodded.

"Okay, let's get started, then." Radim said into the microphone. Silva and I walked to one end of the arena, Nichrom took the other end.

"Don't push it, Garie." Silva warned me as I readied my ukulele. "If you get him mad, he won't hold back."

"I just have to hit him once, right?" I said, sounding more confident than I felt. "How hard could that be?"

Silva's face was grim. It looked like he didn't have a lot of confidence in me. As he turned to go, though, he smiled. "You know, Garie, even if you lose, you're not half as bad as I expected." Then, without saying anything else, or even giving me a hug, he walked out of the arena. I was left standing there, waiting for Radim to start the fight. I took a deep breath. This was it. The moment of truth.

Radim raised his hand. "Ready?" I gripped my ukulele tightly. Radim brought his hand down in a slicing form. "FIGHT!"

I held my ukulele out in front of me. "Okay Erato, let's get our game on!"

"As you wish, Miss Garie," Erato appeared, smiling brightly. I smiled back, feeling my confidence rise, if not just slightly.

I sighed with relief. "Erato, you rock." I said. Then my eyes narrowed with determination. "Oversoul!" For the second time that day, my ukulele turned into a large scythe. Time to see how strong I really was.

Nichrom was still on the other side of the arena, looking at me calmly. I couldn't see any oversoul on him. I couldn't even see a weapon of any sort. Well, it's his loss if I decide to attack and he can't protect himself.

I ran forward, ready to swing. As I got closer to him, though, he raised his wrist. I think he was wearing some kind of spiky bracelet, (excuse me; I forgot I was talking about a man. Ahem, wristband). Just as I was about to lower my weapon on him, he yelled out:

"Oversoul, yellow whip!"

Just as suddenly, a giant, glowing, yellow scorpion tail came out of his bracelet, (excuse me, WRISTBAND), and wrapped itself around my scythe. It would've been ripped right out of my hands, if I hadn't been holding on to it so tightly. Instead, both I and my scythe were thrown against the wall of the valley. If you've ever crashed into the side of a cliff at maybe a hundred miles an hour, you probably know how much pain I felt at the moment.

I fell to the ground, barely landing on my feet. I fell forward on my hands and knees, breathing hard.

"Miss Garie, are you okay?" Erato asked me urgently.

I didn't know which part of my body to rub first. I was in pain all over. "Um, I think that highly depends on what you mean by okay." I said, rubbing the back of my head. I stood back up slowly.

"Oh, and another thing," Radim called from his place at the edge of the arena. "You only have ten minutes. And if your oversoul breaks, you lose."

"That would've been good to know from the beginning!" I yelled at him, sending a wave of pain throughout my body.

"What's wrong, Sullivan?" Nichrom laughed. "Scared?"

"No, but I am very annoyed!" I said, running at him again. I was not about to let him knock me around. Not on my life.

I kept my eye on his oversoul this time. I could see, just as I swung at him again, it sprang out for me. I smiled, using the same trick I had used on Horo Horo earlier. At the last minute, I ducked and went for his legs. Unfortunately, he saw that coming.

He jumped out of the way. I would've hit the ground face first, but I stuck my hands out in front of me, causing me to do a very crude flip. I did end up landing on my feet, so at least it worked a little. Just as I was about to turn again, I felt a sudden, stinging pain on my forearm. I gasped, and my hand flew to the hurt spot. It came back with blood. The scorpion tail had gotten me.

"Have you ever been stung by a scorpion, Sullivan?" Nichrom asked, his eyes filled with hate and wickedness. "My yellow whip is a sculptured scorpion, which is among the deadliest of scorpions in America." He laughed cruelly. "You'll be dead in less than an hour."

I stared at him. In my right hand, I still held my partially glowing scythe, while my left held my still bleeding forearm. I had just been told that I was going to die. I wasn't panicking, though. I wasn't scared, or anything. I felt weirdly calm for some reason. Is that an effect of scorpion venom?

"Hey Nichrom," I said. "How about after the fight we go out for smoothies or something. I think you have a lot to let out of your system, and I think it's worth listening to."

"Didn't you just hear me?" Nichrom asked, getting frustrated. I must've sounded a whole lot stupider than I thought. "I just told you that you've got less than an hour to live."

I nodded. "Don't worry, I heard you." I took a step closer to him. "But, I don't think you're a killer, Nichrom. I just think that you're having a really hard time moving on. I know what it's like to lose someone you love. It may not be by death, but losing someone in general is terrible." I looked down at my scythe. "That's just how I felt when I moved to New Mexico and I had to leave my dad behind. It sucks, but it doesn't mean that I can't be happy again." I smiled at him. "I think it would do you well to feel a little happiness, even if it doesn't last that long. The first step to gaining happiness is through forgiveness."

He didn't reply for a second, but his face began to twist in a very ugly fashion. I couldn't really see, though, because my vision was blurring over. Damn. My time really was running out. Even so, I could tell that I had struck a nerve on this guy.

"Damn you!" He said through clenched teeth. "Don't you dare talk as if you know me." He sounded like he was about to cry. "Don't you dare talk about my brother's death like you know what I've been through!" His oversoul came out again and headed straight for me. One thing was very clear: he was pissed.

I used the same trick as before, though this time my life depended on it, so of course it was a lot better. I ducked at the last minute, and ran forward, knowing that that tail thing was right behind me. Before Nichrom could get out of the way, though, I jumped up, as high I possibly could, using my scythe to propel me.

Before Nichrom could even look up, my scythe was already slicing through his oversoul. With a slight shove on my part, I poked his chest with the top of my blade. The impact sent him tumbling backwards. He fell right on his butt, looking more bewildered than ever before. His oversoul was broken. I had hit him with my oversoul. I won.

I stood there for a couple of seconds. All around me, the place exploded with cheers. I let go of the breath that I hadn't even known I was holding, and fell on my knees. My scythe shrunk back into my ukulele, and Erato appeared next to me, her arms around my shoulders.

"Thanks for the help, Erato." I said weakly, my vision failing me again, and my heart beating slower than normal. "I really owe you one."

"You owe me nothing, Miss Garie." Erato said, her voice full of sorrow.

I couldn't reply anymore. My mouth wasn't working. I couldn't move from the spot I was in. Suddenly, though, I began to feel like I was being grabbed. I couldn't see who it was though; everything was getting darker and darker. The one thing I was able to do was think. Well, more like remember. I thought of my mom, and how the last thing I had said to her was "whatever." I thought of Karissa, and how sad she'd be if I didn't call her like I'd promised. What would my sister say if I didn't go to her wedding? Damn, there was so much I had to do, and not enough time to do it all.


	5. Meeting a friendly enemy

I thought I was hearing things, suddenly, because I could hear a deep voice calling my name. Then I said to myself_: Of course you're hearing that, silly. It's just your uncle calling you._ _You should probably tell him you're right here so that he'll stop being so annoying._

So I listened to my inner self and said, "What is it, Silva? I'm right here."

Someone yelled out, "She's alive!" _Well, um, no duh. Oh wait, that's weird. I should've been dead by now. I'm still here, though. Hm, interesting..._

I was slowly able to open my eyes. As it all came into focus, I saw that there were a bunch of people in front of me. They were all staring at me with really concerned expressions. Another thing I noticed, I was still in the desert. It didn't look like I'd been dead for too long.

"W-what happened?" I asked weakly. "Thought I was dying…"

"It is always a good thing to have a doctor nearby." A voice I didn't recognize replied from somewhere on my right. I turned my head to see a blonde man with serious bags under his eyes in a white lab coat and white plastic gloves wrapping a bandage around my wounded arm.

"Who are you?" I asked in my weak, out-of-it voice.

The man smiled and answered with a foreign accent. "Johann Faust the eighth. It's a pleasure to meet you, Garie Sullivan."

I laughed, feeling stoned for some reason. "Johann. That's a funny name."

Faust shook his head. "I'm afraid you're still rather out of it."

I sighed. "I hope it lasts. Maybe then I won't feel so much regret."

"Regret for what?" Yoh suddenly crouched in front of me. "You won! That was amazing!"

I stared at him for a second, and then looked back at Faust. "What happened?" I asked, laughing again.

"You got stung by a deadly scorpion." Faust replied, letting go of my arm. "But no worries, I was able to extract the poison before it got to your heart."

"Oh, cool." I said, and then I looked back at Yoh. "I won?"

Yoh nodded. "Yup. I've never seen anything like it. That was completely original. One of the best shaman fights I've ever seen."

Finally, my head started clearing. "I feel like I just got hit by a truck."

"Don't worry, that's natural." Faust said pleasantly. "I'm glad to see you speaking, at the very least. You're healing a lot faster than I suspected."

Suddenly Silva appeared and pushed Yoh out of the way. "Garie, I want you to name all of your siblings' names in order from eldest to youngest."

My eyes narrowed. "Sarah, Carl, Chel, Hana, Katina, and Ellet. Why?"

Silva sighed with relief. "Sorry, I just want to make sure you're okay."

"Sounds like you're cured." Faust said, pulling himself up on a wheelchair with the help of a young blond nurse. I saw then that he there was a blanket covering the place where his legs should be, and the area there lay hollow. Hm, weird.

"Yay," I cheered weakly, pulling myself to my feet. "Can I take a nap or something? I'm so tired."

"Not quite yet." An old, crinkly voice said from behind me. I turned to see Goldva, surrounded by all the other priests, including Nichrom, who was still looking at me with a very hateful expression. Great, let's just add on to the list of people who hate me.

"Congratulations, Garie Sullivan." Goldva continued. "You were able to defeat one of my ten priests in a shaman fight. You have now earned your place in this tribe as a priestess apprentice to the Great Spirit." I could see a hint of a smile on his face. "You will begin your training this week. Silva will be your mentor. He'll show you everything you'll need to know about being part of this tribe." I glanced at Silva, and saw that he was looking at Goldva with a determined face. "So," Goldva continued. "As chief of this honorable tribe and patron to the Shaman Fight, I would like to say: welcome to the tribe."

"Welcome!" The ten officials echoed.

I smiled, unsure how to reply. "Thanks. I'm not entirely sure what to do now, but thanks." I rubbed my temples. "I feel like passing out."

Goldva laughed in his crazy old man type of way. "You should probably get some rest then." He turned to Silva. "Give her the rest of the afternoon off. She's going to need energy for tomorrow."

"Thank you!" I exclaimed.

"Good," Silva said, taking my unwounded arm. "You still have a lot to learn about fighting, Garie, and the Great Spirit knows I will make you learn it." He began leading me through the crowd of people who came down to congratulate me. I noticed that none of them happened to be X-laws. Hm, they must not be all that sociable. I did see Ren in the valley, standing near a black guy with a fro and a big nose. They were talking with serious faces, looking at me. I waved at them, just to let them know I was conscious of their stares. The guy with the fro waved back, smiling. Ren didn't do anything.

"What's his problem?" I asked to no one in particular.

Silva sighed. "Don't bother with Ren, okay? He's just a very weird guy. And anyway, you're going to be too busy to socialize while you're training with me, so take these people out of your mind while you can."

"I thought you said I should make friends." I said, still looking in Ren's direction.

"Yeah, but be careful. You're a priestess now, Garie." Silva reminded me. "You're not allowed to have favorites in this fight."

"Well, that's stupid." I muttered.

Silva looked at me from the corner of his eye. "You have a lot to learn."

"Garie!" I heard May calling me. I turned to see her coming towards me, followed by Sam and that Jordin girl from the day before. When she got to me, she threw her arms around me. She was about the same size as Karissa, so it wasn't all that weird. It was a little unexpected, though.

"That was great!" May exclaimed. "I've never seen anything like it! And you survived! That's even better!"

Jordin nodded. "I got to admit you're a better shaman than I expected."

"Thanks, I guess." I replied.

"I didn't introduce myself yesterday," Jordin continued. "I'm Jordin Elliot; I'm from New Orleans." She smiled. "Sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean the whole Paris Hilton thing."

"It's okay," I assured her. "I'm used to the criticism. People never believe that there's actually a brain in here somewhere."

"So, we were wondering if you wanted to hang out with us." Sam told me.

"Yeah," May said. "We need to celebrate your success. That is, if you're not too tired." She added.

I looked Silva. He was standing a little farther away, his expression blank. He didn't seem to disapprove, but the words he had just said to me were still fresh in my mind. He suddenly shrugged and walked away. I looked back at the three girls.

"Sounds good," I said.

"Awesome," said Jordin. "I'll go tell the guys."

As she walked away, I turned to May. "Is she a good friend of yours?"

"Who, Jordin?" May asked. "Yeah, I've known her since I was eight years old. She's a really sweet girl."

"Right," I wanted to laugh out loud. Sweet? Please. Then something else came to my mind. "Hey," I wondered if this was a very personal question to ask, but I was getting curious. "I saw your brother before the fight, and well, I was wondering…"

"Why I'm staying with Yoh and not him?" May finished my thought perfectly, as if she got asked this all the time.

"Yeah," I said. "I mean, I really have no right to ask this, but do you guys fight a lot or something?"

May shook her head. "Of course not," she shrugged. "You'd have to understand that I have a very strange family life. Hao is my family, the only one I've ever known. I've never met my parents, and I hardly know where I come from. I know it's strange, but I never really enjoyed living with Hao. I loved him, of course. I still do. But I can't tolerate his ideas. When I was ten years old, I just decided to live a life on my own. I realized then that I was taking a huge risk, but Jordin agreed to come with me. She was with us by then, so we went together, and this is how we've been ever since."

"Geez," I said. "And I thought my family was dysfunctional. You were ten and you lived on your own? How did you do it?"

"A lot of false identities, lying about my age, and running from people," May laughed. "It's quite an exceptional life."

Jordin returned a couple of seconds later, followed by Yoh, Manta, a really tall guy with Elvis hair, and the guy with the fro.

"Great, intro time," Jordin said. "Garie, this is Ryu." She pointed to the Elvis guy, who winked, then she drew my attention to the guy with the fro. "This is Chocolove. Beware his jokes. They're terrible."

"You're name is actually Chocolove?" I asked him. "That is so cool!"

His eyebrows shot up. "You really think so?"

"Heck yeah, I love original names."

"That's great!" Chocolove smiled brightly. "Most people think my name is weird."

"Ah, people think I'm weird for having a guy's name, but I don't pay attention to them, honey. They're all just jealous." I replied.

"Well, that's about everyone." Jordin said.

"Isn't Ren coming?" May asked.

"I swear I asked him, sweetheart," Jordin informed her. "But he just looked at me with that sneering look of his and said he had to go train."

May crossed her arms over her chest and muttered something so low that the only thing I understood was, "Over-training" and "Idiot."

"Well, let him waste all his time training." Sam said, waving her hand back and forth. "In the end, we'll be the ones having more fun."

"I agree." Yoh said, and then he paused. "So what should do?"

"We could totally go shopping!" Sam suggested.

"Eh. . ." The guys all said in an unsure way.

"Shouldn't we ask Garie what she wants to do?" Jordin said.

"She's right." May said, turning to me. "We're celebrating you, so you decide."

They all turned to me expectantly. Ugh, I hate making decisions.

"Hey, I'm cool with anything that doesn't cause me pain." I said, my hand traveling to my bound arm.

"Well, that's specific." Jordin muttered.

"Let's go get milkshakes." Yoh suggested.

I smiled. "That sounds awesome!"

"Anna won't like it when she hears that you've been going against her dieting rules." May warned him.

"It's one milkshake." Yoh insisted. "What harm could that do?"

"Well, I haven't had anything sweet in a while." Chocolove said. "I agree with Yoh."

"Yay!" I said. "Let's go." Well, I followed them out of the arena, eventually out of the desert, and into the shopping and restaurant district of the village. I found myself next to Yoh again, discussing the best types of music. We both agreed that old time rock and roll has got to be the best type of music in existence, with a few exceptions, of course.

At one point, Chocolove turned to me and asked, "So do you really play that smallish guitar of yours?"

"It's called a ukulele, Chocolove." May reminded him. "It's an instrument originating from Hawaii."

"Well, yeah," I said. "But the first ukuleles were made by Portuguese immigrants in the late 1800's."

"So the main instruments in Hawaii weren't even invented by Hawaiians?" Ryu asked.

"How do you know that?" Manta asked.

"Research paper I did in fifth grade." I responded, playing the beginning chords to one of my favorite songs.

"How did you get into playing?" Sam asked, admiring me as I played and walked at the same time.

"I started out on guitar when I was about ten." I recalled. "Then, I don't know, I listened to 'Somewhere over the rainbow' by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole and I wanted to learn how to play it. I sort of fell in love it." I took a guitar pick out of my jeans pocket to make the playing easier. "Erato is a Greek muse, so it only made sense that my medium be an instrument."

"That's very true." Yoh said. "My spirit used to be a samurai, so my medium is a sword."

"Whoa," I stopped playing. "Your spirit is a samurai? No way! Can I meet him?"

"Sure." Yoh smiled widely. He pulled out a tablet of some sort. I guess its best described as some kind of portable tombstone used to keep spirits in. Some people call them memory tablets. I don't know the proper term. "Amidamaru, my friend wants to meet you." He said to it.

The spirit appeared, and for me, it was like meeting a celebrity. He looked about twenty years old, with long silver hair, and the exact clothes you'd imagine a samurai to have.

"This is Amidamaru." Yoh said. "He's about six-hundred years old. I met him while I was living in Tokyo. He's really been a great friend throughout this whole fight. Haven't you, Amidamaru?"

"You flatter me, Yoh-dono." Amidamaru said, smiling very nicely. I think he was blushing. Aw.

"Dude," I said, super excited (really, how often do you meet a real, six-hundred-year-old, live samurai? I mean, um, real, six-hundred-year-old, _dead_ samurai, I guess). "I would totally ask for an autograph, but since I can't, I'm just going to say that samurai's rock!"

Amidamaru, (cool name, very original), looked shocked, confused, and happy at the same time. Luckily, he smiled. "Thank you," he said. "I'm pleased."

I smiled my very hyper, very girlish smiled. "Sorry if I seem really weird." I apologized sincerely. "I just love meeting new people."

Yoh laughed. "Don't worry. Amidamaru and I have met just about every level of weird there is."

I gave him a thumb up. "That's awesome!"

"You guys need to hurry up, or we're leaving you behind." Jordin called over her shoulder.

"Dude, swords are so much cooler than instruments." I said to Yoh as we kept walking. "I think that every time I watch Star Wars."

"That's so not true." May disagreed with me, kind of serious. "A sword is a weapon. All they're good for is hurting people. An instrument hurts and makes beautiful music. Plus, most instruments are beautiful anyway."

"I don't know about that, May-chan." Yoh said. "I've seen some pretty ugly instruments before."

"Exactly," He is so great. Why are all the best guys taken? Seriously!

After a while, we found ourselves at an old-fashioned restaurant. We all sat around a large wooden table and ordered our milkshakes. The waiter congratulated me. Apparently, he'd seen my fight on TV. Where were the cameras?

I sat between Sam and May. I didn't realize I'd been staring at Yoh until Sam looked at me and whispered, "He's amazing, isn't he? Strong, friendly, and insanely cute,"

I looked away, blushing. "Jeez, Sam," I said quietly.

Sam laughed quietly. "It's okay. It's the same for all of us. You know, the ones who _aren't_ his fiancée. We all know what it's like. Even Jordin likes him, and she's the toughest out of all of us."

I kept my eyes on my milkshake. "I shouldn't even care." I said loud enough for only Sam to hear. "I'm a priestess." It seemed like I was only saying this to remind myself. "I can't have favorites."

Sam gave me a sympathetic look. "You weren't given much choice on this, were you?"

"It wasn't my idea." I told her. "It's more like my uncle is trying to make my summer terrible." I sighed. "I wish I hadn't gotten in that stupid fist fight in the first place."

"Why were you fighting?" Sam asked, inattentively stirring her milkshake.

I took a sip of mine while I got my thoughts together. "This guy, well, he was going out with my best friend. I mean, he'd take her out on dates, and be super sweet with her and everything. They were made for each other. Well, I thought they were, at least. I'd never seen her so happy with anyone else." I sighed. "On one of the last days of school, I was walking to my locker, after the bell rang. I was just going to empty my stuff out and go home, but I heard something in a classroom that wasn't supposed to be used, so I went in to see what it was." At this point, I was holding my glass with a very tight grip. I hated this part of the story. "I found my best friend's boyfriend in there, making out with the captain of the dance squad."

"So you beat him up?" Sam asked, understanding the seriousness of the story.

"Rage took over, and the rest is history." I let go of the glass. "By the time his little whore had called for help, his nose was broken, he had two black eyes, and his two front teeth were gone." I shrugged. "I lose sight of myself when I get really angry."

"So you didn't even let him defend himself." May said, her tone just as serious as mine. I hadn't realized that she'd been listening. I really hadn't realized that _everyone_ was listening.

I looked at May. "Karissa is my best friend. She loved this guy more than anything. She used to blow off everything just to be with him, and he cheated on her. How could I let him get away with that?" I looked away. "I'm not proud of what I did, but I didn't know what else I could've done."

Whereas everyone seemed to be shocked by my story, Yoh looked at me with a sweet smile. "You're a very good friend, Garie."

"Yeah, but," Manta said, looking just as shocked as everyone else. "Couldn't you have just talked it out with him or something?"

My eyes narrowed at him, but then I relaxed. "I just wasn't thinking. I don't usually get that mad. Not to the point where I can't think. That time, though—"

"You were thinking about your friend." Yoh finished for me. I nodded, and I felt myself even more drawn to him than before. Damn it!

I tried to ignore my feelings and smiled at him. "After I explained the situation to Karissa, the two of us burned everything he'd ever given her in my fireplace, and I was suspended for the rest of the school year."

"Oh the irony," Jordin laughed darkly. "You help someone, and you get punished for it."

I shrugged. "I don't care. One thing I'm sure about is that this guy is never going to cheat on another girl."

"Wow," Sam said. "Your reasons for being here are so unexpected."

I laughed. "Yeah, well, my life is pretty unexpected as it is."

A couple of hours passed, and I was almost ready to pass out. I said goodbye to the gang and headed home. In retrospect, it wasn't that bad of a celebration. Once we got past the subject on my being there, we started talking about other things, ending with three different arguments on who the greatest singer of all time was or is, two of which were continued in Japanese, (which I stayed out of, for obvious reasons), and a bunch of other conversations that I didn't really follow. I did learn some Japanese from May. You know, aside from konichiwa and sayonara.

I was walking through the forest, my mind on the stupid headache I was getting. Ugh, I needed a pill or something. The wound on my arm stung, and my feet dragged a little. I couldn't wait to fall asleep, even on that stupid excuse of a mattress that my uncle was having me sleep on. I let out a huge yawn as passed a giant oak tree.

"Hi Garie," I will always wonder why I make such a big deal out of people surprising me. I mean, honestly, it wasn't even that loud, but still, I was so surprised when I heard someone say my name that I jumped and swore and turned at the same time. There, leaning against the big oak tree, was a boy whom I thought was Yoh at first. Then I noticed he had longer hair, and he was wearing this long white poncho and these red jeans. Yup, definitely not Yoh.

"Oh, hey, I know you." I said, and I must've sounded like a complete idiot. "You're May's brother, right?"

The guy nodded. "I don't generally like being referred to that way, but yes, May is my little sister." He walked forward, and I noticed that he was about my height. "My name is Hao."

I scratched my head thoughtfully. "I'm really not supposed to be talking to you." I informed him.

"Ah, you're uncle doesn't like me." Hao said. Damn, he had a sexy voice. "He's rather ashamed by me, I suppose." His voice was very calm, as if he knew everything and whatever the hell I told him wouldn't surprise him at all.

"Ashamed?" I asked, not quite comprehending.

Hao smiled suddenly. "Sorry, I'm going off topic. I just wanted to come and congratulate you on your win."

"Uh, thanks." Wow, he's weird.

"You're strong, but you need training." Hao said. "I'm not too impressed by how quickly Nichrom brought you down, and I'm even less impressed by how you reacted."

"Well, excuse me, but—" Hao brought his palm up to stop me.

"I'm just saying this to inform you." I internally slapped myself for noticing how cute his smile was. I'm usually not that weak around guys. I swear. "I'm sure you'll get better. I'm somewhat interested to see your improvement."

I looked at him for a second. "How old are you? My dad doesn't even talk like that."

Hao laughed. "You'll learn more about me one day. I'm going to require your assistance soon." With that, he kind of went up in flames and disappeared. Don't ask me how he did it, it just happened. I was alone in the forest, freaked out of my mind. Why are people so crazy?

Trying to get the last disturbing scene out of my mind, I ran back to Silva's place, completely forgetting my old weariness. When I got there, I burst through the door and closed it behind me, leaning against it and catching my breath.

"I'm back," I called out breathlessly.

"We're in the kitchen." A woman's voice called out. Huh? A woman? That was weird. I went into the kitchen, and there, sitting at the table, were Silva, and a woman of about his age, with very long black hair. She wore a simple dress, and she smiled at me as I entered.

"Garie," the woman said. She stood up and gave me a hug. "I haven't seen you in so long."

"Uh, who are you?" I said. I know it's rude, but do you even know how freaked out I was at the moment? I've had enough with random people doing weird things.

Despite my rudeness, though, the woman laughed as she let go of me. "I'm Kim, Silva's wife. Of course, it's natural for you not to remember me. You were only six years old when we first met."

I looked past her towards Silva. "She's your wife."

"Will you ever show at least an ounce of respect?" Silva said, annoyed. "Yes, that is my wife, Kimberly. Be nice to her."

"I am being nice!" I insisted.

"Please don't argue, you two," Kim said. She looked at me again. "You can call me Aunt Kim, if you'd like, Garie." She led me back to the table and served me a bowl of beef stew, sat down next to me and handed me some bread. My uncle watched as I ate, a dark look on his face.

"What's your problem?" I asked, dipping my bread into the bowl.

"We have to talk to you about something." Silva said.

"What is it?" I spooned some stew into my mouth.

"The second round of the Shaman Fight is going to begin soon." Silva informed me, absently tearing at a slice of bread. "Tomorrow we are going to relocate all of the contestants to the site where the fights will be held."

"Okay," I said, not sure why this was a problem. "Why does this concern me?"

"Because the second round is to be held in Japan," Silva finally said.

I stared at him for a few seconds. "Japan?" I asked, almost dropping my spoon. "You're relocating everyone to Japan? How are you going to do that?"

"That's not the issue." Silva said. "The issue is that you have to go too."

This time I did drop my spoon. "I'm going to Japan!" I almost yelled with excitement. "Oh my sweet spirits! Just wait till Karissa hears this!" I reached into my pocket for my phone.

"Garie put your phone away." Silva told me. "I need you to understand something. There's going to be special tasks for you to do during this fight. Some of them will be dangerous. As a priestess, this is something you will have to take very seriously."

"Oh, and as a priestess, you're going to need a proper outfit." Kim said. "Now, stand up."

"Why?" I asked, still kind of excited.

"I need to take measurements for your new outfits. I am a seamstress, you know." Kim stood and pulled a tape measurer from her pocket. "Stand up straight." I did as she told me, and watched as she held the measurer out in front of her, and then muttered something that I couldn't hear. As if by magic, the measurer flew out of her hand and started stretching itself all around me, measuring my arms, my legs, my waist, my head, my feet, everything it could possibly measure.

"Wow," I said as the thing flew around my body. "Is that some kind of oversoul technique?"

Kim nodded. "It makes my work a thousand times easier." When the measurer was done, if flew back into Kim's hand, where it hung limp and lifeless. "That should do it." She said. "I'll have your new outfits in a few days." She looked at me for a second, pacing around me. "Oh, I have so many good ideas."

I looked at her with an alarmed expression.

"Oh, don't worry, Garie, I won't get carried away." Kim promised. With that, she pocketed the measurer and walked over to Silva, pecking him lightly on the lips. He was still looking a bit grim, but Kim just kept on smiling as she said goodbye to us both and headed out the door.

I looked back at Silva, unsure of what to say to him. He seemed slightly angry at something, and I had a feeling it had a lot to do with me. When he caught me looking at him, he took the bowls of uneaten stew and stuck them in the sink in a very rough manner.

"What's wrong?" I asked, closing the bread package.

"Nothing." He said abruptly.

I plopped the bread on the counter. "It doesn't look like nothing." I muttered, heading back towards the table.

Silva looked at me, and I noticed for once how angry he looked. "Can you please shut up? I've already had enough of your prattling."

"My what?" I asked him. It wasn't that I was trying to be annoying; I just had no idea what the heck he was saying.

"You heard me." Silva grabbed all the dishes on the table. "Go upstairs and get your things packed. We're leaving very early tomorrow, so don't stay up late."

I looked at him for a couple of seconds longer, and then I left. I've seen tons of people get mad. I dislike it with a passion, and when it happens, I don't stick around for long_. Silva must be under serious stress,_ I thought as I raced up the stairs and shut myself in my room. He had told me to shut up, and quite rudely, too. I grabbed my duffel bag and started packing the things I had barely unpacked the day before, and as I did, I thought of all the things that had happened today, and all the people I had met. Was this what it would be like every day in the Shaman Fight?

I put on my pj's and climbed into the bed, and then I frowned.

"I hope they have better mattresses in Japan." I muttered, turning off the light.


	6. Let's open the fight

When my uncle woke me up that morning, it was 5a.m. I didn't argue, though. I really didn't say anything. I got ready and dragged my duffel bag downstairs, repacked and ready to go. In the kitchen, Silva was wrapping burritos in tin foil. When he saw me coming, he tossed one in my direction.

"Breakfast," He said. "The most important meal of the day,"

"Good to know." I said, biting into the tortilla. The burrito was filled with eggs, bacon, and green chili, reminding me a lot of New Mexico. At least Silva seemed to be in a slightly better mood this morning.

Just before we left, Silva handed me something else. It was a small device with a large screen and some buttons along the rectangular edge. There were straps on it, and each side had what looked like several small blades, but they weren't sharp at all. I had seen something similar on some of the contestants.

"It's an oracle bell," Silva informed me. "It'll show you messages from the Great Spirit, but it does other stuff too. Take care of it." I pressed a button, and suddenly the screen grew bright. Suddenly, a message appeared on the screen: **Garie June Sullivan, Patch priestess apprentice. **I pressed some other buttons. Some led me to the list of contestants and where they were from. I didn't know what the other buttons did, but I'd explore that more later.

We headed outside, and I followed Silva wordlessly towards the edge of the village. Next to one of the last buildings in the Athlete's Village, a small crowd of teenagers were gathered. As we approached them, they looked at us, and their faces lit up with recognition. There were two guys and two girls, whom I hadn't seen before, but judging by their hair and skin colors, they were from the village. One of the boys, a tall guy with shoulder length hair that seemed to be black as night and really dark tan skin stepped forward and greeted Silva.

"Good morning, sir." The boy said with a respectful tone. He looked to be about my age, maybe a little older.

"Good morning, Tim." Silva said. "Are you ready for today?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." Tim replied.

"I'm glad to hear it," Silva said. "This is my niece, by the way," he mentioned, motioning towards me. I waved at Tim with my free hand, and he nodded at me. "Garie, this is Tim; he's Kalim's apprentice. I'm leaving him in charge of you for today."

"Nice to meet you, Sullivan," Tim said. "You don't mind if I call you that, right?"

"I'll respond to anything, really," I informed him with a shrug.

"Sweet," Tim said. He had a nice smile. "I'm glad to see a new priestess coming in. It's going to make this fight a whole lot more interesting."

"Says you," One of the girls stepped forward, flipping her wavy black hair out of her face. She had the body of a model, and her dark copper skin and intense black eyes that almost had no pupils made her look like a warrior princess. Her short shorts and extremely revealing tank top almost complemented that image. She looked me over. "So, you're the new apprentice?" She didn't let me answer. "It's just as well. I was beginning to think they'd never find someone for Silva to mentor."

"Oh please, Mariah, I doubt you were even concerned about that." The other boy said. His hair was just as dark as the others, but he had lighter eyes, which made him seem a lot friendlier.

"Oh, quit your yapping already." Tim said to them, and then he turned to me. "Those two are also apprentices here. Mariah is studying botany to become a plant based shaman," he signaled towards the girl. "And Gabe is learning about ancient Patch culture." The boy with the friendly eyes smiled at me, and I smiled back.

"Oh, and Rutherfor," Tim continued, and he signaled towards the last girl, who was short and somewhat timid, with very messy black hair. "She's actually an official priestess now."

"You're one of the ten priests?" I asked her, somewhat confused. I hadn't noticed her before.

Rutherfor nodded. "People don't notice me too much because I'm small, and I don't talk much. Plus, the position is pretty new to me. I'm not entirely used to having people calling me 'priestess' instead of 'apprentice'."

"Wow," I said. "So how come you aren't with them now?"

"She's here to take care of us, of course." Gabe responded. "How could any of us apprentices do anything without our fantastic little Rutherfor there to guide us?"

Rutherfor blushed.

"So, have you decided what you're going to study Garie?" Mariah asked me, and I took my attention away from Rutherfor.

"Uh, I have no idea." I said. "I mean, I'm really not staying here that long. I don't even know why I am an apprentice in the first place."

"When you start your training, we'll find something for you to study." Silva said, getting everyone's attention once again. "Anyway, make sure you all get to Japan safely. All apprentices have to be at the opening ceremonies, so don't be late, or else Rutherfor will be held accountable for that." With that, he turned and left us standing there.

"What did he mean by 'get to Japan safely'? How are we getting there?" I asked, completely unsure.

Mariah snickered. "It figures that you don't know anything about traveling around here."

"Oh, don't be a jerk, Mariah," Gabe said. He came and took my arm. "Don't you worry about a thing, sweetheart. This is going to be fun."

"What is?" I asked, still completely clueless.

"We're traveling by oversoul." Rutherfor explained.

Gabe shot her a mean look. "You ruined the surprise, Ruth. Now what's the point?"

"Wow, traveling by oversoul?" I asked as I followed the group to the other side of the building.

"You've never done that before?" Gabe asked. "Oh, honey, you're going to have the best time! It never gets old."

"Um, I'm not so sure about this." I said.

"Don't worry," Tim smiled at me. "We'll make sure you get there alright."

We were around the building now, and it was there that we came upon an empty lot of gravel. I looked around for some sort of transportation. There was nothing that looked like it could get us over the Pacific Ocean. Then Tim and Rutherfor stepped forward and stood almost at the center of the lot, stretching their arms out.

"What are they doing?" I asked Mariah.

"Sh!" She snapped at me, her eyes on the back of Tim's head. I looked back at the scene, and heard that the shamans were muttering something, but I couldn't understand the words. All of a sudden, a great wind whipped around them and the gravel was lifted into the air. The tiny rocks started glowing and meshing together right before my eyes. When the light receded, what I saw confused me. For there, right in the middle of the lot, was a helicopter, shiny and metallic.

"Everyone inside!" Tim called to us. I stared at the thing with an open mouth.

Gabe laughed at my shocked silence. "I told you traveling by oversoul is awesome." He took my arm and led me into the helicopter. Inside, there were plushy red velvet seats, enough for everyone to sit down and have comfortable moving space. Tim sat at the pilot's seat, adjusting a large headset and checking the buttons. I looked at the radar, the GPS, and a bunch of other funny looking dials and levers, all working perfectly.

"This is all an oversoul?" I asked.

"Yup," said Tim. "Amazing, ain't it?"

"No kidding," I muttered, dumping my duffel bag in the cargo section and sitting at the window seat. As everyone settled down, Tim started the thing easily, and the blades started turning, gaining speed with each spin. I watched as Tim pressed different buttons with agility, testing his headset a couple of times. _Damn, _I thought. _This guy is so cool. _

I turned to Gabe, who sat in the seat next to mine. "Tell me really quickly," I whispered to him. "What's up with him?"

"You mean Tim?" Gabe laughed quietly. "Who you're looking at is one of the most advanced Patch apprentices this tribe has seen in a long time. He would've been given a spot with the ten priests, but the one who died was Nichrom's brother, so he got the spot." Gabe grimaced. "It's stupid in my opinion. Tim is way better than Nichrom is, and a lot nicer, mind you."

"What about Rutherfor?" I said. "How did she get the spot?"

"Well, the way it works here is that if a current priest has to give up his position, for any reason, his apprentice takes his place." Gabe replied. "Rutherfor's mentor was terribly injured during a fight, so Ruth had to replace him."

"That sucks." I said. "Is it hard to be a priest?"

"It's very stressful," Gabe said. "You have to be able to deal with a lot. Neither Rutherfor nor Nichrom had even completed their training when they had to take the spots. It's a harsh job, and it can be very dangerous." He turned to me. "Speaking of which, I saw your fight against Nichrom. It doesn't look like he likes you much."

"Hm," I said. "I tried to talk to him after my fight. You know, to make my peace and stuff? But all he did was turn me away. He's such a jerk."

"Totally," Gabe said. "He should open up more." He sighed again. "It's tough, though. No one deserves to lose their family."

I gave him a sideways glance and turned back to the window. The blades were now spinning at full speed.

"We're off!" Tim yelled, pulling the joystick back. The helicopter sped off the ground, and I felt myself grip the seat with anxiety, my heartbeat going out of control.

"You do know how to steer this thing, right?" I yelled over the sound of the blades.

"Nope!" Tim shouted back, laughing loudly.

"You're not helping my confidence!"

Tim laughed hysterically, making the helicopter jerk dramatically. I think I might have screamed, but at this point I can't remember that well. I felt that breakfast burrito from earlier turn painfully in my stomach. I looked at the others, who were all sitting calmly, minding their own business. _How the heck do they do it?_ I wondered as my knuckles turned white from gripping the seat.

Finally, the helicopter straightened out, and flew smoothly forward. Tim laughed at his success. I looked out my window and saw that sandy pieces of land speeding away from us. A couple of minutes passed and we were over the ocean. It was absolutely beautiful. Soon, other helicopters started catching up to us, but they kept their distance.

"Are all of those oversouls?" I asked Gabe.

He nodded. "In the beginning we made a really big plane oversoul so that all of the shamans could be taken at once, but that took way more energy than we expected it would. Goldva decided that we should make our next oversouls smaller and faster."

I looked out the window again. It looked to me like we were all in a big swarm, as if we were bees or something. I looked in each window that I could see, but I couldn't make out any of the faces. We were all headed in the same general direction, although some of the copters swerved a little.

I spent a lot of time staring down at the ocean. I'd never flown over an ocean before. This was all pretty nerve wracking, but I liked the sight of the blue water. At one point, I'm sure I saw a bunch of dolphins, but it could have been my imagination.

After a while, Gabe poked me.

"Check it out," he said, pointing out the window. "Looks like that Ren kid has his own procession,"

I looked out his window, and my mouth dropped open. Amongst the helicopters, a huge machine with a yin yang symbol on it was flying in the air. What was truly shocking, though, was the Chinese dragon that was flying next to it, with a man sitting cross legged on its almost-human head.

"What the heck is that thing?" I asked.

"I believe that is Tao Yuan," Gabe said, pointing out the man on the dragon. "He's Tao Ren's father, and the dragon thing is his oversoul."

"Damn," I said. "Ren is such a weirdo." I settled back in my seat.

The flight took over six hours. I passed out and slept for about the first five. When I woke up after my catnaps, I looked out the window and saw that we were approaching an island. I yawned.

"So, where exactly are we going?" I asked anyone in particular. "Like, are we going to get to see Tokyo and all of those places?"

Gabe shook his head. "No, the fight in Tokyo already ended. We're going to an abandoned military island."

"Why there?" I asked.

"Well," Mariah spoke up for the first time in hours. "The government isn't exactly aware of the Shaman Fight. The longer we keep the secret, the better. That's why Goldva chose this island. No one comes here because of its location, and there are volcanoes all around. We're completely safe from humans."

"So nobody knows about the Shaman Fight?" I asked. "That's weird. You'd think that word of a fight for the universe would get around pretty quickly."

"Well, it does," Gabe said. "But humans are very picky depending on what they believe and what they think is just a myth. I don't think any of them believe that a single person could take on the role of God."

"They seem to be alright with playing God, though." Mariah added bitterly.

"Hm," I said, leaning my face against the window. Suddenly, I heard Tim's voice from a loud speaker.

"_We will be landing shortly. Please return all of your seats to an upright position and put your seatbelts on. Thank you for flying Tim's Awesome Airline._" I smiled as I secured myself for the landing. About fifteen minutes later, I stood in the middle of a large beach, staring out into the ocean. Behind me, a wild forest grew, with trees larger than anything you would ever find in New Mexico. Some massive palm trees dotted the beach, and I caught sight of some sea gulls flying around. It sure didn't look like Japan.

"Are we in the right place?" I asked. I hadn't seen any other helicopter land around us. We were the only ones around.

"All of the other helicopters are landing on the other side of the island," Tim informed me, handing me my duffle back and my ukulele. Behind me, the helicopter had once again turned into pebbles that fells with a muffled sound on the sand. "We're going to our lodgings to get ready, and then we'll go to the ceremony."

"Great," I said. "We don't exactly have to say anything, right?"

"Nah," Tim said, leading the group into the forest. "All you have to do is stand there and look pretty. That shouldn't be very hard." He flashed me a gorgeous smile, and I found myself blushing. "All of the apprentices have to go, though. All we're doing is explaining the rules and wishing people good luck. Nothing drastic."

"Sounds fun," I said.

"Ugh, I am starving." Mariah complained, sighing dramatically. I looked at her again and wondered if she ever ate anything.

"We'll get to eat, don't worry." Ruth laughed back at her. "You know we were promised a feast if the ceremony went well."

"Well, it better go well," Mariah said. "Jet lag is making me insanely weak."

"I'm really glad they're giving us the rest of the day off." Gabe said with a smile. "If some of those shamans aren't used to flying around like that, they're going to be weak for a while."

"It would be unfair to throw them all into battle without a day's rest." Ruth shrugged. "I really don't want to see anyone get too hurt while they're here."

"This is the Shaman Fight, so we'll see injuries no matter what. Remember," Tim lectured in a voice that sounded a lot like Goldva's. "It's all the will of the Great Spirit."

As a reply, everyone except me (because I didn't know what was going on) said, "It's all the will of the Great Spirit!" Then it was followed by some kind of Native American war cry that succeeded at making the hairs on my arms stand on end.

I gave them all a questioning look, but I figured that's just how people are in the Patch. Instead, I changed the subject. "So how far is this place?"

Tim shrugged. "We're staying in some old apartments that were used by military leaders once when this was used for the Japanese army. They're well concealed just in case they got attacked."

"Another good thing is that you can have wild parties without anybody hearing you." Mariah said to me. Although I smiled at her, I was kind of hoping that wouldn't happen. I'm really not into the wild party thing. I'm not kidding. I left Homecoming early.

"Of course, the officials are going to try to keep an eye on us." Gabe said. "They have to make sure that we aren't getting wasted or high or anything."

"Although that's exactly what they do themselves." Mariah said with a sneer. "But we have Rutherfor. She'll take good care of us, won't you Baby Ruth?"

Rutherfor rolled her eyes. "Just because we're in Japan doesn't mean that you can do anything illegal, so yes, I'll make sure that you're behaving yourselves."

"Here we are!" Tim said excitedly, and we all looked up expectantly, but my hopes fell to the ground with an almost audible _plunk!_ Our new home was just a huge block of cement with small, dark squares set in equal rows and columns that were the windows. It looked dark and abandoned. The air around it seemed eerie with depression.

"Wow," I said under my breath. "No wonder this place was abandoned."

"Come on," said Tim, not hearing what I said. "Let's see what we can make of this." We followed him through the front door, which was made of a heavy metal which was very hard to move. It took three of us to open it. Once inside, the first thing I noticed was a stone staircase, but I couldn't see where it led. On either side of me I saw dark halls.

"Let's see," Tim said, studying some kind of map that he took out of his bag. "The kitchen should be down that way," he said, pointing to the right. "Kalim told me that all of the lights were fixed, so there should be a switch somewhere along here." He led us down the dark and creepy hall, and I felt myself grip my ukulele tightly.

"Ah, found it." Ruth said, switching something in the dark. The whole room lit up, and we found ourselves in a huge kitchen, way bigger than the one in my house in Albuquerque and in Mexico combined. There were two fridges, a huge oven, a couple of microwaves, and cabinets that circled all around. A large white table sat smack dab in the middle with a bunch of matching chairs all around it.

"This doesn't look like a military kitchen," I said. "This looks like something out of a Martha Stewart hand-book."

"They did renovations all over the island." Gabe said as he inspected the cabinets, all filled with different varieties of food. "They had to because all of the buildings were falling apart. All of the contestants are being issued houses, depending on how many are in their group. The larger groups will get a building like this one, smaller groups will just live in the apartments scattered around."

"I heard the X-laws brought a war ship to live in." Mariah said, searching hungrily through the first fridge, and pulling out several packages of lunch meat, cheese, condiments, and a two liter bottle of coke. "Get some bread out of there, Gabe."

Gabe pulled out a couple of loaves, white and whole grain. "How long do we have before the ceremony, Ruth?"

"About an hour," Ruth responded, graving plates and utensils. "We need about half an hour to find the village where it's being held, so let's try to be quick.

"Fine by me," Mariah said, preparing herself a huge ham and cheese sandwich, and taking a huge bite. While they prepared their food, I looked around the cabinets and found a huge stash of chips. Potato, corn, tortilla, and some that seemed to come from Japan. The package said rice chips. I wasn't entirely sure about those, though, so I grabbed a back of spicy potato chips and set about making a turkey and Swiss sandwich. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until now. That flight really took all of my energy, and the whole jet lag thing felt so weird to me. I had never flown overseas before that. The new experience was taking a toll on me.

"When we come back we'll explore a little more," Tim said through a mouthful of sandwich. "We each get our own room, and they installed a washing machine, so we'll be good for a while."

"How long is this going to last?" I asked the question that had been on my mind all day.

"Well, the last Shaman Fight lasted over five years," Ruth said thoughtfully. "And the one before that went on longer."

"Five years?" I almost dropped my glass. "It took that long?"

"It's a slow process," Tim said. "It's the second year of this particular fight, and I have a feeling that it might last a while."

"Damn," I said, chewing thoughtfully. If the fight really took that long, would I have to stay for all of it? That didn't seem right. I had school, and family, and all of that junk. I couldn't stay for another three years!

"I don't think it will take too long," Gabe said, and I noticed that his tone became low and somewhat dark. "Hao is in this fight, and third time's always a charm."

I looked at him, thinking he was going to explain, but he didn't. I looked at the others, and I noticed that all of them had the same look on their faces, a dark look that seemed somewhat hopeless. Tim must've noticed me staring, because he quickly said, "We should all change clothes. The ceremony will start soon."

I helped put all the stuff away, and when we were done, I followed everyone upstairs. Once the light was on, it was apparent that this whole floor was nothing but bedrooms. In the main bedroom, the large beds were strewn with the same uniform that I had seen on Silva and the other officials, all of different sizes. They were all on hangers, with the kind of plastic that you on dry-cleaned clothes wrapped around them.

"Looks like Kim came by," Tim said, picking up the first one, a small one. "Here is yours, Ruth, all clean and fresh like she promised." He handed the uniform to her. "Pick a room to change in. We'll assign rooms when we get back." He picked up the uniforms and handed them to each of us. "Here Garie," when he gave me mine, I was surprised to find a beautiful lyre made with gold string engraved somewhere around the left of the chest. When Tim caught me looking at it, he said, "Each of the uniforms has something that represents us and our spirits." I noticed that his had large bear paw on his uniform. "When you become an actual priest, you get to wear a silver plate, like the one Ruth has, but for now, this is what we apprentices get."

"Sweet," I said. I found an empty bedroom. It was small, but bigger at least than the one at Silva's house. A four poster bed sat under the huge window looking out on the forest, and in the distance I could see a small volcano. I wondered absently if it was active as I lay my uniform on the bed and changed into it. It was a three piece uniform. The first layer was a skirt that fell down to my ankles. A spider web-like pattern stretched from my waist and diagonally down to my knee, and the hem had a complicated zigzag pattern wrapping around it. The second piece was a tank top that was plain all along the top, but the bottom split and almost reached my knees, where it showed the same zigzag pattern. The last part of the ensemble was a cloak that covered the blank part of the tank top, and had a bunch of stair-like patterns going diagonally up my back. As I thought, the golden lyre shone proudly over my heart.

As I was putting on the last part, I noticed a smaller piece. When I picked it up, I noticed that it was a headband with a triangular patter going all around it.

"I don't know about this," I said to myself. "What do you think Erato? Do I look like a priestess?"

The spirit appeared next to me, smiling brightly. "You do, Miss Garie. You look very good."

While I was inspecting myself, there was suddenly a knock at my door.

"Hey Garie," it was Mariah. "Let me help you with your hair."

"Come in," I called, my eyes still on the headband. Mariah came in, and in her hand I saw an eagle feather. Her outfit looked just like mine, but the pattern on her headband resembled a vine that was twisting itself around her head, and the emblem on her heart was a complicated plant with lots of blossoms. She had stuck two eagle feathers in her hair, both facing downward.

"Traditionally," Mariah said, sitting me down on the bed and taking my hair out of my usual ponytail. "Every priest and apprentice has feathers in their hair. Feathers that face upward signify that you have done something heroic or brave for the village. The right to wear your feather up is given to you by the chief." She brushed my hair through her fingers, letting it fall down my back and frame my face. She put the headband around my forehead and stuck the single feather, facing down, in the back of my head. "There you go," Mariah said, leading me to the mirror.

My eyebrows shot up. I had never considered myself to look very native at all. My hair was too blonde and my skin was too white. But now, dressed in these clothes, the native features suddenly jumped out at me, like my high cheekbones, and my hard jaw. I seriously looked like I belonged in these clothes.

"Come on, let's go!" Tim yelled from the next room. "We don't have time to lollygag. Let's get this show on the road!"

I smiled, following Mariah out the door. Downstairs, everyone else was assembled, all with one or two feathers in their hair, all facing downward. I noticed that Gabe's insignia was some kind of spiral with two large birds flying around it. Like Tim said, Rutherfor had a large metal plate on her uniform, in a shape that reminded me a lot of a flying saucer. I wasn't entirely sure what that meant, though.

"Okay," Mariah said to Ruth. "Please tell me you know where we're going."

"I have a pretty good idea," said Ruth. "Yeah, but I might not be entirely accurate, which is why we have to get going."

"Then come on," Gabe said. "Lead the way, oh fearless leader."

We all followed Rutherfor as she led us through the thick forest once again. I spotted some trees I recognized, and others that I hadn't seen before. Sometimes, I happened to spot something that in my mind looked like a monkey, but I wasn't really sure. I almost stepped on some toads a couple of times, which left my looking constantly at my feet instead of up at the trees.

It was only afternoon, which felt weird to me because we had been flying for so long. Back in New Mexico, it was already night. Here, the day was barely close to over. How strange it is to fly around the world.

Half an hour passed before the forest finally began to thin out. Five minutes later, we were walking on a paved road that led to a huge stadium. It reminded me a lot of Estadio Azteca, which is this stadium in Mexico where they hold all of their major soccer tournaments. Of course, I'd never been there, so I have no clue what the inside of a stadium looks like except for what I've seen in movies. I imagined this would be where the fights would be held. The sign on the stadium was in Japanese, which I guess made a little bit of sense, but for us non-Japanese people, I'm pretty sure all it said was "stadium" or something stupid like that.

Outside of the entrance a large, temporary stage had been set up, with a microphone stand set up to a short height. Around the stage, a large crowd had gathered, made up mostly of shamans. The ten Patch officials were standing all along the stage, all in similar uniforms. Just like Ruth, instead of having a small emblem on their cloaks, they had large metal plates that covered the top part of their chests. I searched out Silva, and saw that his was something that looked like a circle with feathers coming out on both sides, and claws coming out of the bottom. Kalim's was something that resembled a hollow bull. I also noticed that a couple of the officials, including Silva, had feathers facing up sticking out of their headbands. That certainly said something about them.

Tim led us onstage, where everyone dissipated and went to join his or her mentor. Ruth went to stand in the front, with the other officials. I caught sight of Nichrom, and when he caught me looking, his eyes narrowed. I could tell he was still pretty pissed about the fight. _Better stay away from him for a while._ I went to stand next to Silva.

"Have a good flight?" I asked just to see how he would respond.

"It was okay," he replied absently.

I let air out of my nose in frustration. I hated it when people didn't give me enough to make a conversation out of. I mean, now what was I supposed to talk about? The weather?

I occupied myself with looking through the crowd for familiar faces. To my right, I spotted Yoh and his friends. He, Anna, and May were all dressed in what looked like Japanese robes. I noticed that Yoh's robe had some kind of insignia that looked like a tree. I waved at him, and he smiled and waved back, mouthing the words "great uniform." To my left, I saw Hao and his group. He smiled and nodded at me. I nodded back, unsure if this was a sign of friendship, or just that he was still keeping an eye on me. I saw a couple of other people I somewhat recognized from my fight and from the restaurant.

I noticed a green haired kid staring at me from the X-law group. He was a lot younger than the rest, with a round, boyish face and big green eyes. When I saw him staring, I smiled at him, trying to seem friendly, but he turned away and started talking to a tall blond guy with glasses. I noticed that next to them was something that reminded me of an Egyptian casket, except this one had the face of a woman, and it seemed to be made of metal. As I thought about it, I remembered that it was called an iron maiden, used in medieval times for torture. I suddenly wondered what could possibly be their purpose for having a torture device. Were they planning on sticking contestants in there?

Before I could keep wondering what the heck was going on with them, Goldva mounted the stage, his feathery headdress trailing behind him like a wedding train. I had to cover my mouth to keep from giggling at this observation. I tend to have a giggling problem when I think of something like that. He stepped up to the microphone, all conversations stopped, and we all looked expectantly at the chief.

"Welcome to your new temporary home," Goldva began, his voice traveling all around the square. "For an indefinite time, we will be continuing the Shaman Fight. I suggest you all get comfortable and accept the fact that you might not be going home for a very long time. You have all successfully divided into teams of three. In the end, the final teams in the running will once again split into individual shamans, at which point the winner of that round will claim the throne, so to speak." A small, nervous chuckle passed through the crowd. Goldva took this as a sign of appreciation. "The first fight of the second round of this tournament will begin tomorrow at nine in the morning, and the rest will go on from there. Good luck, and may the Great Spirit be with you!"

"May the Great Spirit be with you!" The officials echoed, followed by the same war cry that Tim and the others had done earlier. As usual, though, I had no idea I was supposed to say that, so I just kept my mouth shut until the cheering had died and the crowd started thinning out as everyone went their separate ways.

"We're starting your training tomorrow, right after the first fight." It took me a second to realize that Silva was talking to me.

"Yeah, okay." I replied, still standing in the same position on the stage.

Silva nodded. I thought he was going to leave then, but instead he said, "Listen, about last night," he paused. "I want you to know that—"

"No, stop right there," I said turning to look at him. "Don't apologize or anything. I was being stupid and you're really stressed. I get it. I'll try to be quieter from now on."

Silva blinked. "So you're not mad?"

"I fight with my mom every other day, so yeah, I was pretty pissed off." I looked away. "I just don't like it when people take things out on me when I don't even know why."

Silva nodded. He waited a couple of seconds before speaking again. "I'm not great at this guardian thing. I don't have any kids, so I have almost no clue what I'm doing here."

"Hey, you're doing pretty kick-ass job from my point of view." I shrugged. The truth was that I got what he was saying. He didn't know anything about being an uncle, and I had no clue how to be a niece. If it were up to us, neither of us would be in this position. I would be in Mexico, arguing with my sisters, or irritating the crap out of my dad, and he would be here doing his whole shaman thing without having me to worry about. Both of us would be happier then. Too bad I'm so good at getting in trouble. "You just didn't have a whole lot of time to prepare."

Just as Silva was going to say something else, one of the officials interrupted our conversation. He was a pleasant-looking dude with straight hair pulled into a pony-tail. He smiled at us.

"Hello, Garie," he said, shaking my hand. "My name is Thalim, Mariah's mentor. I'm not sure we've met before."

"Yeah, I doubt it," I said, not trying to sound rude, just giving my honest opinion. "What's up?"

"Well, I wanted to congratulate you on gaining the apprenticeship," Thalim responded. "And I was wondering, since you're going to be here for a while, if you were interested in working for me."

"Working?" I asked.

Thalim nodded. "I'm opening a coffee shop near the arena, as a place for people to relax. I need waiters and waitresses, though. I would pay you, of course, and you'd get as much coffee as you wanted."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. A coffee shop? Seriously? This was a dream come true!

"So let me get this straight." I said. "I would work for you, get paid for it, and I get to be a waitress, with all the _free _coffee that I want?"

"Essentially, yes." Thalim responded.

"I am so in!" I said excitedly, and then I caught sight of Silva, still standing silently beside me, and added quickly. "That is, if it's okay with my uncle."

Thalim turned his pleasant smile on Silva. "You wouldn't mind too much, would you Silva? I'll make sure her work schedule works around her training schedule."

"Please Silva?" I put my hands together. I really wanted this job. "Think about it. You're the one who wants me all disciplined and junk. ?"

Silva rolled his eyes. "It's fine if she works," he said to Thalim. "Just don't pay her too much."

"Ah, come on!"

"Great," Thalim said. He turned to me. "I'll send you a message through your oracle bell to tell you when your shift is. See you then." With that, he walked towards Mariah, who was standing near us.

"Hey, Garie," May came towards me, with Yoh following close behind. "I like your outfit."

I looked down at myself again. "Eh, it's okay." I looked at her kimono. It was light purple, and it had pink petals falling across the front. "Your kimono's really cute."

"Thank you," May said. "I like dressing up for these occasions."

"Anna made me wear this," Yoh said, smiling at me brightly.

"She seems to be on some kind of campaign to promote the inn she wants to open," May explained. "She made Yoh name his team after it." She made Yoh turn around to show a bunch of Japanese words that I obviously couldn't read, but were apparently some sort of advertisement.

"It's not a bad name." Yoh said, though it sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else. He turned back to face me. "She just didn't give us much of a choice. She's setting her whole future on that inn."

"Wow," I said. "So you get to name your teams here?"

May nodded. "Mine is Yorugumi, or team night. Our billboard over here is Team Funbari Onsen." She looked at Yoh with a large smile.

"Yes, laugh at the man with the advertisement," Yoh smiled at May. It was scary how much they looked alike. I think they were distant cousins or something at the very least. "You should see Ren's team, though," Yoh turned to me again. "He named the team after himself."

"He did?" I asked, shocked. "What a narcissist. Why did his team let him do that?"

May shrugged. "Because Ren doesn't listen to anyone,"

"True that," Yoh agreed. He looked around suddenly. "What time is it?"

I checked my cellphone. "Almost four, why?"

"Ah, crap," Yoh looked very alarmed. "I have to go train."

"Dude," I said, my eyes narrowed. "You just flew over the Pacific Ocean. Shouldn't you be taking it easy?"

"You'll find out that in Anna's vocabulary, 'Yoh' and 'taking it easy' do not go well together," May said. "We'd better head back, or we'll be in trouble."

"Okay, it was nice talking to you," I said, and then I added. "Oh, and I just got a job, which I'm actually getting paid for, so you should totally come see me sometime."

"Sure," Yoh said. "See ya, Garie,"

"Bye," May said.

I went back to the house. The other apprentices had left me a while back, so I was on my own walking through the forest. I didn't mind, though. I hadn't had any time to myself since this morning. I thought of my mom, and suddenly realized that I hadn't talked to her at all since she'd dropped me off. That wasn't very good at all. _I better call her._

When I got back to the "house" (I guess I could call it a base, but that doesn't seem very homey at all) I got to work getting my room in shape. I chose the room I had changed in earlier. I liked the view I got out the window. I put my clothes into the dresser, which I could tell was new, and made everything look more like my room. When I was done with that, I took out my cellphone, checking my messages for the first time in a while. I had a couple of texts from Karissa, but I'd take care of that later. I punched in my mom's number and waited.

She didn't pick up. Instead, her voice came in the usual "Please leave me your name and phone number and I'll get back to you as soon as I can." I sighed. Mom isn't the best at checking her messages.

"Hey Mom, its Garie," just for the record, I hate leaving messages, because I absolutely suck at it. Ask anyone. "Um, I don't know if Silva told you, but we're going to be out of town for a while, you know because of the Shaman Fight? Yeah, um, just… get back to me as soon as you can, and I'll, um, talk to you later. Love you, bye." I closed my phone and took a deep breath. I really wish I could've talked to her.

There was a sudden knock at my door. "Hey, Garie, let's eat," Tim said from his side of the door. I found myself suddenly reassured by him. Everything was changing really quickly, but it was nice to know that there was at least one person willing to help me around here.

"Coming," I said, feeling suddenly hungry again. When I went down, I was surprised to find that they hadn't lied about the feast. Tim led me to what was going to be our dining room for a while. It was basically just a really big room with a really big table in the middle. The table had been laid out with all sorts of dishes, some which were common in the south west, such as enchiladas and tacos, and others that were definitely Japanese, like sushi and noodle soup.

"Wow, we must've done well in the ceremony." I said, sitting down and wondering where I should start.

"Well, the officials do come through every once in a while if you please them," Gabe said, mounting his plate high with everything in his reach.

"Bless the Great Spirit," laughed Mariah. "For an awesome start to the second round,"

At this everyone, including me for once, said, "Bless the Great Spirit!" And I tell you, that funny sounding war cry was the funniest thing that's ever come out of my mouth.

**I've been doing a serious amount of editing lately, but I finally finished this chapter! So, I hope you've enjoyed this, and I hope you think my OCs are cool. It might take a while for me to put up the next chapter, because at this point, I'm still trying to figure out where all of this is going, not to mention that I'm going to be busier than ever in this next couple of weeks. Still, I think this is all going to go well!**


	7. X slaughter

I woke up to a bright room. I checked my alarm clock. It was almost nine. I jerked, suddenly awake, and ran down the stairs. I found Mariah and Gabe in the kitchen, gossiping over cheerios and fresh fruit.

"You're up," Mariah said. "I was just about to go check if you were alive."

"Have the fights started yet?" I asked.

"Not yet," Gabe said. "Tim's in the entertainment room setting up the TV. We're going to watch the fights from here because we're all too lazy to go out."

"Oh, okay," I said, relieved that I didn't have to get ready yet. I grabbed a bowl and the cereal. "How many fights are there today?"

"Four throughout the day," Mariah answered. She took out her oracle bell, and I remembered that I hadn't even checked mine since Silva gave it to me. She pressed some buttons. "Ren's team is the first up."

"Why are they fighting in teams?" I asked, pouring too much milk into my bowl.

"Who knows?" Mariah responded. "It seems weird, huh?"

Tim entered the room a couple of seconds later. "Okay, the TV's set up. The first fight starts in about ten minutes, so grab some snacks and get ready."

"Alright," Mariah said, going through the cabinets and grabbing a bunch of different snack foods.

"It's only like nine," I said. "You're really going to eat all that?"

"Honey, the Shaman Fight is like the Super Bowl," Mariah said, filling her arms up. "Except it only happens every five hundred years, which makes it all the more special,"

"Yeah," Tim said. "And the Shaman Fight doesn't have a bunch of funny commercials."

"I you say so," I said, grabbing a bag of hot Cheetos and following everyone into the entertainment room. Rutherfor was already there, toying with a remote control. As we arranged couches and chairs around the TV, Ruth managed to get it to the right channel. We were getting a live feed of the fight. Right now, the only thing going on was people getting to their seats. Radim was already in the center of the arena.

"Aw, he's all dressed up," Mariah laughed. Radim was in his Patch uniform, holding the same weird microphone he'd used for my fight.

"So, which teams are fighting today?" Ruth asked.

"He's going to announce it soon," Gabe said. "I think one of them is on Hao's side."

"Interesting," Tim stuck his hand into my bag of Cheetos.

"Sh," Mariah said. "It's starting."

As usual, Radim welcomed everyone to the fight with a lot of enthusiasm. He explained the rules, and told the audience that no one could go over the force field and offer outside help. As if to prove it, he dared the audience to throw stuff at him. That they did, but everything they threw bounced back.

"Hey," I said, suddenly inspired. "If we threw a balloon filled with tomato sauce, what do you think would happen?"

Tim laughed. "I don't know, but it sounds like fun."

"You know if either of you get caught doing something like that, Goldva would kill you." Ruth informed us. "He doesn't like it when we mess with the fights."

"Shut up!" Mariah said. "He's announcing the teams."

"First off," Radim said from the TV. "Is Team the Ren!" Ren, Horo Horo, and Chocolove all entered the arena, all with battle clothes and excited expressions.

"Who the hell names their team after themselves?" Tim asked.

"That's narcissistic to a whole other level." I agreed.

"I swear I'm going to kill you both." Mariah said. Tim and I shut our mouths.

"Versus," Radim continued. "Tsuchigumi!"

"Tsu-what now?" I asked. "That's definitely not English."

"I have a feeling its Japanese or something complicated like that." Ruth said.

We watched the contestants of the unpronounceable team enter. One of them was a dude I thought I'd seen before. He was wearing a very large sombrero, and his face was covered by goggles and a scarf of some sort. I was pretty sure he was Mexican, because he was wearing a poncho and a bunch of other Mexican related things. Bone graphics covered his clothes. The other two dudes were obviously Asian. They were wearing socks with their sandals, and they had really colorful clothes on.

"Wow," I said. "They're like Japanese hippies or something."

"They even have guitars." Ruth said. She was right. Two guys, the Mexican dude, and one of the hippies, the one with lighter hair, both had guitars. The Mexican's was acoustic, and the hippie's was electric, and shaped very weirdly. The other hippie, the one with dark hair, had what looked like a very old fashioned microphone stand.

"Hm," I said. "They must be musicians."

"They look like sissies." Tim said. "I'm so voting for Ren's team on this one."

"You're right." Mariah said. "There's no way these guys are winning. They look like they should be on Sesame Street."

"I don't know," I said. "I mean, I like musicians, and that guy looks Mexican. I won't know until they start fighting though. But I don't like Ren all that much. He's a pretty big jerk."

"I agree," Gabe said. "I'm going for the unpronounceable team this time."

"Come on, guys," Ruth said. "You're not supposed to be rutting for anyone in particular. You're supposed to remain neutral."

"Fine," Tim said to me, ignoring Rutherfor completely. "If your dream team loses, you owe me."

"Owe you what?" I asked.

"You'll know when you lose," Tim said with a wicked smile.

"Fine," I mimicked his tone. "But when the jerk and his friends lose, you owe me something, and I'll make sure it's something terrible."

"Deal," Tim said, shaking my hand.

"Deal," I responded.

We watched the fight intently.

Team the Ren won. I looked at the screen in amazement and annoyance. Ren and Chocolove practically destroyed the other team, while Horo Horo just watched in the background. Chocolove did end up passing out, but that's not the point. The point was _I lost the bet!_ And Tim was sure as hell never going to let me forget that.

"Well, wasn't that an interesting outcome," Tim said with the same wicked smile from earlier.

"And that's why you shouldn't pick favorites," Ruth said, wearing a satisfied look.

"Don't worry, Garie," Tim said. "I haven't decided what I want you to do yet, so you're good for now."

"That doesn't make me feel any better." I said through clenched teeth.

Suddenly, my oracle bell, which I was wearing around my wrist, began to beep obnoxiously. I waved my arm in alarm.

"What do I do? What do I do?" I exclaimed.

Ruth reached over calmly and pressed a button. "You have a message from Silva," she said. "He says 'meet me at the southern beach immediately.'"

"Ah, crap," my day was just getting worse and worse. "I forgot. I have to go train, dammit."

"Have fun," Tim said, eating Cheetos and staring at the screen, which was now turned to MTV. I shot him a murderous look before grabbing my ukulele and walking out the door. I made it to the beach in about ten minutes. Silva was there, wearing casual clothes.

Silva inspected my jeans and tank top. "Are you seriously going to train in that?"

I looked down at myself. "I didn't bring any work-out clothes because I didn't know I'd be doing this." I looked at him and shrugged. "It's all I have."

Silva sighed. "Okay, it'll do. We're just going to do some basic stuff today."

"I can do basic," I said.

"I should hope so," Silva said, rolling his eyes. "Here's what you have to do." He stood a couple of paces away from me and let his arms drop to his sides. "Hit me."

"Oh, come on, not this again!" I said. "I did that already! Can't we go to something else?"

"You almost got yourself killed, Garie," Silva reminded me. "You need to know how to avoid fatal blows, and no matter what, never _ever _take your eyes off your enemy. You already know what happens when you do. So, hit me."

I sighed with exasperation. "Fine," I grabbed my ukulele. "Come on, Erato; let's just get this over with."

"With pleasure, Miss Garie," Erato smiled with determination at me. I engaged my oversoul, and without even thinking, I launched myself at my uncle. As I brought my scythe down on him, though, he raised his arm and stopped me.

"You aren't paying attention, Garie," he said. He was right. While I'd been busy grumbling and being mad, he had engaged his own oversoul, an armor of some sort, and was able to stop my attack easily. "Try again."

I fought him for a while, but I wasn't able to overpower him. After about half an hour, he crossed his arms over his chest. I stood a little ways away, breathing hard.

"You're not trying hard enough, Garie," Silva said, wearing a very disapproving look.

"I'm trying," I said, looking down at the ground. "I'm just not feeling well today."

Silva blinked. "What's wrong?"

I sighed. "I don't know," I said. I disengaged my oversoul and plopped down on the sand. "I'm just not feeling it today."

Silva came toward me, sitting down on the sand next to me. "I hear you. This whole fight business is taking a toll on everyone. It must be hard on you." He looked at me. "Are you getting along with the other apprentices?"

I grabbed a handful of sand and let it sift through my fingers. "I guess. Gabe and Ruth are really nice. And Mariah, well, she's Miss Perfection, but she's warming up."

"And Tim?" Silva prompted.

"I have a feeling he likes to watch me suffer," I said flatly.

Silva smiled. "Don't let any of them bring you down. You're a great shaman, Garie. I'm actually kind of glad that I got you for an apprentice. It's going to be fun watching you improve. You'll make a fantastic priestess."

"I guess," I said, though I actually did appreciate him saying that. "I just wish I could've had some time to prepare for all of this."

Silva gave me a sideways glance. "Do you miss your family?"

I pulled my knees up to my chest and stared out onto the ocean. "I tried calling Mom last night. She didn't answer, but I wish I could've talked to her."

"She's a busy woman," Silva said, trying to sound reassuring. "That doesn't mean that she doesn't love you."

"Oh yeah?" I said bitterly, laying my head on my knees. "If she loves me so much then why the hell did she leave me here?"

Silva didn't answer for a second. "Do you regret coming here?"

I stared out onto the ocean for a while. There was nothing but blue as far as I could see. It was a clear day, and the water glistened. I hadn't seen the ocean in a really long time. It really was beautiful.

"No, I guess not," I said, raising my head. "It was nice to see the village again. I had no idea how much I'd missed coming to visit you."

Silva laughed for the first time in a while. "Yeah, I missed you guys coming up to visit me. It was always fun to have a bunch of little girls running around the village and terrorizing the other priests."

I laughed, and it felt good. "I wish I could go more often."

Silva nodded in agreement. "Well, next time you do come to visit me, make sure it's not because you're in trouble. I want to be able to brag about how much my niece loves me and wants to come see me. And bring your sisters with you. I haven't seen them in a long time."

"Okay, I'll make sure of that."

Silva helped me up. I don't even know why, but I reached over and gave him a hug. I was glad when he hugged me back. It felt really reassuring to know that he was really my uncle, and that he at least cared about me enough to listen. We resumed training. I hit him on my first try, but I had a feeling he was just taking pity on me. It didn't matter though, because I actually had fun doing it. It felt good to be on good terms with Silva.

I decided to go watch the next fight at the stadium. There was a special section where Patch people could sit. I walked over there calmly, knowing that I still had some time on my hands.

When I got there, people were once again beginning to file into their seats. The arena was still empty, so I was still pretty early. I was surprised to see the other Patch apprentices and Rutherfor there as well. I sat next to Gabe. I didn't want to sit near Tim and let him boast about his victory. He looked at me and smiled.

"How was training with your uncle?" Gabe asked me.

"It was okay," I said. "Tim hasn't been bragging or anything has he?"

"Not at all," Gabe said. He smiled at me. "Don't worry about the whole bet thing, though. He only did that because he likes you."

I didn't reply. Instead, I looked over at Tim, sitting at the end of the row. He and Mariah were talking lively to each other, and suddenly I wanted to know what the heck they were talking about. Then I took my mind off of them as I saw the two teams enter the arena. I was surprised to see the X-laws; or two of them at least. It was that green haired kid and the blonde guy with glasses from the ceremony. They had the iron maiden with them, which made me wonder what was really in there. Then I was struck by an idea.

"Wow, is the third team member in that thing?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Maybe," Ruth said. "But why would they have a person in there? I mean, wouldn't they get hurt?"

"Well, the third member has to be somewhere." Gabe said.

We watched in silence as the two teams made their way to the center. The other team seemed even weirder to me. It was three men, all dressed in some sort of Egyptian getup. I'm not talking about shawls and stuff. I mean that one guy had a pyramid on his head. They were obviously very into their culture, or else they just liked dressing up.

The two teams were introduced by Radim as X-I and Team Nile. Radim had barely managed to start the fight when the green haired boy engaged his oversoul, a projectile of some sort, and managed to send it right through the man's pyramid mask, exposing the man's face.

"Holy crap!" I exclaimed. "What the hell was that about?"

"The kid's obviously eager to win," Gabe said.

"Who is he?" I asked.

"Check your oracle bell," Ruth told me. "They've listed all the team members there."

I followed her advice and turned on my oracle bell. After much help from Gabe, I was able to find a page that listed all the contestants, their ages, spirits and origins. I found X-1.

"Lyserg Diethel," I said to whoever was listening. "He's from England." I saw a number next to his name and my eyes narrowed. I turned to Gabe. "What does this number mean?"

Gabe looked at the number. "That's his furyoku level."

I looked at the number again. It was only a number. It didn't say what type of measurement it was. "How do you measure furyoku?"

"Beats me," Gabe said. "All I know is that the larger the number, the more you have, and the more people should be afraid of you."

I compared the numbers in X-I. The largest furyoku seemed to be from a girl named Jeanne. I looked at the team fighting in the arena. I didn't see any girl. I only saw the iron maiden, and suddenly, it clicked inside of me.

"They have a little girl in there!" I exclaimed. I looked at the girl's age on my oracle bell. "She's like eleven years old! What the hell is she doing in there?"

We watched the fight intently. Lyserg was able to destroy the mummy coffin that the Nile team had with them. Then, just as suddenly, his wire trapped one of the team members, a man with a pharaoh mask on his head, and the wire tightened around him. I covered my mouth with both my hands as the wire tightened so much that it cut through the man, sending blood exploding all around him. I looked around me. Everyone was wearing the same expression of shock. Even Tim and Mariah had stopped talking and were now staring, speechless, at the sight before them.

The man's mask fell off to reveal a middle aged man with a very long nose. His face was twisted in pain, and it took all my strength not to look away. The wire was released, and I was surprised that the man didn't even fall to the ground. He was still alive.

"So," Tim said, his tone a grave opposite to what it had been earlier. "That's the power of the X-laws."

"I don't think we've seen the end of it," Ruth said quietly. "Look,"

She was right. The guy who was badly injured, the one with the large nose, was apparently very deeply insulted at being humiliated in front of so many people. He engaged his oversoul, and suddenly he was in the air, flying with the help of something he called his "wings of death." His medium, some sort of cross with a circle at the top, was held in between his teeth, so that nobody could really understand him when he spoke.

Lyserg wasn't going to take that, though. His wire once again launched itself at the man, and I covered my eyes, because it was going straight for his face. Next to me, Gabe and Ruth gasped.

"Garie," Gabe said in shock. "Look,"

I uncovered my eyes, and I had to blink a couple of times to register what had happened. The wire stopped. It was barely an inch from the man's face, but it stopped. I looked at Lyserg. He had fallen to the ground, and he was breathing hard.

"Is he okay?" I asked. It didn't look like Lyserg could get up. "What's wrong with him?"

"It's his spirit," Tim said intensely. "She refused to attack, so the oversoul was broken."

"What?" I looked at him. "How can a spirit refuse to attack? Isn't it all up to the shaman?"

Mariah shook her head. "And oversoul is a contribution of both the spirit and the shaman. It doesn't matter how willing you are to do something. If your spirit isn't willing, then the oversoul will weaken."

I thought back to Erato. I always asked her before attacking anyone. It was just common for me, because that's what my mom had taught me to do. Mom taught me a lot of the things I know about oversouls, and respecting my spirit was one of the most important lessons. It seemed almost barbaric to me that any shaman would force their spirit into something that they didn't want to do. Obviously, this spirit thought the same thing, because she had disobeyed her master's orders to save this guy.

Suddenly, the iron maiden launched itself at Lyserg, and he felt forward. I don't care where you're from, that's gotta hurt. The blonde guy, I found out his name was Marco, didn't seem very happy about that either. He made Lyserg go to the edge of the arena. He took out a key and went over to the iron maiden, now lying on the floor. He lifted it so that it was upright, and stuck the key in the lock. All of us waited eagerly as the door to the maiden swung open, and I tell you, nothing I've ever seen before scared me as much as this did.

The first thing anyone saw was a wave of crimson blood. My hand was once again at my mouth, and I was really close to purging out my breakfast. The inside of the maiden was full of very sharp spikes, all of them bloody. In the midst of it all, I saw a little girl. She was topless, but that didn't matter to me as much as the fact that she was covered in blood. She wore nothing but lose white pants. Her eyes were closed, and she had long silver hair that fell down to her waist. I stared at her, feeling fear and disgust rise up in my throat.

Suddenly, the girl's eyes were open, and she was speaking. I swallowed back my fear and listened.

"This is to show my determination that this world is filled with darkness," she said, and it didn't sound like she was in pain whatsoever. She launched into a story of how she wanted to fill the world with peace by getting rid of all the evil people. Apparently the only way for her to do this was to suffer and have the evil people suffer with her.

"Geez," I said. A lot of the audience members were really moved by her speech. All I could managed to think about was how she managed to stay in there and still be able to come out and talk so easily. Didn't that thing hurt her at all? Maybe she was just used to it. What a masochist.

The Egyptian guy with the wings seemed to be on the same boat as me, because he was pretty pissed off. He launched himself at the girl, and I for sure thought she was done for. What was she going to do? She was a little girl, wounded and covered with blood!

But again, I underestimated the power of certain shamans, because this girl was nowhere near giving up. She said something, and suddenly, a cage appeared around the Egyptian guy. He was trapped. I didn't have enough time to wonder how she did it, because just as suddenly, a huge spirit appeared, holding an axe of some sort. He definitely was not human, but he wasn't an animal either. He swung the axe. I closed my eyes and grabbed Gabe's hand. Gabe held my hand tightly.

"It's done," Tim said without emotion. "The first death of the second round has happened. Open your eyes Garie. If you're not strong enough to watch, then leave."

I felt tears pinch at my eyes as I opened them. The arena was covered in blood, and what was once a man was now an unrecognizable being. Gabe didn't let go of my hand, mostly because I wouldn't let him. I looked at the girl, whose name was Jeanne, and was surprised to see all of her wounds disappear. She was wearing some sort of battle outfit, and she was smiling. In fact, all of the X-laws looked happy, except that boy Lyserg. He looked miserable. I felt a new kind of anger rise within me. For the first time in so long, I felt real hatred.

Jeanne wasn't done yet, though. She took out what looked to be two nails, and engaged a new oversoul. Suddenly, two wooden chairs completely covered in spikes appeared behind the two other Niles. The chairs launched themselves at the men, trapping them with straps. The spikes dug into their bodies. I wanted to look away, or to leave, but Tim's words were still fresh in my mind. If I wasn't strong enough to deal with this, I had absolutely no reason to be here. I had to prove my strength, no matter how gruesome the fight got.

The girl spoke to the men, but I didn't hear her words. I was lost in thought. I turned my attention back to the fight when Jeanne turned away from the men and went back to the iron maiden. The doors closed, and the woman's metal eyes began to cry tears of blood. Suddenly, two other oversouls appeared, this time a guillotine, and some sort of statue, also full of spikes. I knew all too well what was going to happen. I ignored Tim's words and looked away, trying to block out the sounds of their screams.

When I looked back at the arena, the other two bodies were just as the first had been, and the winning team was walking off the stage. I caught one last look at Lyserg, and saw that he looked just as terrible as I felt. He followed his team wordlessly.

"Come on," Tim said, standing up. "I think we've all had enough for today."

We followed him wordlessly. I kept my eyes cast down, straying toward the back of the group. None of us spoke. I resolved never to watch another live fight as long as I was here.

Just outside of the stadium, a familiar voice called out my name. I turned to see Hao standing behind me. A short kid with dark skin and very puffy hair stood next to him.

I let the others go ahead of me. I walked over to Hao. "What's up?"

"I see you're upset," Hao said with the same cool attitude he'd had when I first met him. "Were you not prepared for that?"

"I don't know," I said. "I guess I knew people would be killed here. I just didn't expect it to happen so soon."

Hao chuckled. "Typical. You lead a very sheltered life, Garie. I wouldn't expect you to be comfortable with torture, although you'll see a lot of it here."

"No kidding." I said. "What's that chick's problem anyway, going around killing people for no reason?"

"I wouldn't know, and quite frankly, I don't give a damn," Hao said. "Then again, you know that I'm not completely innocent either."

"Yeah, Yoh mentioned that."

"But you still choose to talk to me," Hao crossed his arms over his chest.

"I haven't seen you kill anyone yet," I said with a shrug. Then I added. "I'm not encouraging you to do anything, though."

Hao laughed. "Garie's funny, isn't she, Opacho?"

The little girl with the puffy hair looked at me and smiled. "Opacho likes Garie. She has a funny name."

I looked at Opacho. "Um, thanks, I guess." It's not my habit to be mean to little kids. I looked at Hao. "Are you babysitting or something?"

"What do you take me for, Garie?" Hao said with an air of irritation. "This is my teammate, Opacho,"

"Teammate?" I looked at the little girl, then back at Hao. "You are crazy."

"So I've been told," Hao said. "I have a feeling you're not going to stick around for Yoh's fight, so I'll see you around."

"Yoh's fighting next?" I asked as Hao began to walk away. "He's not fighting more X-laws, is he?"

"Of course not," Hao laughed as he walked away. "Don't worry about him so much, Garie. Anna might get the wrong idea."

I felt my cheeks grow warm. Just how much did this guy pretend to know about me? _What a creeper, _I thought, heading back to the house. I was tired already, and my head was starting to hurt. It didn't help that I was all alone again. I wanted to talk to someone, anyone, who could at least reassure me. I shouldn't have been upset, and I knew that. I had to be neutral in these fights. I couldn't choose favorites. But the hatred I now felt for the X-laws was so strong that it ate at my insides, and I didn't know how to let it out.

"Erato," I said quietly. "Do you have anything to say about this?"

Erato appeared next to me, wearing a sad look. "I'm afraid I have no words of wisdom. What we witnessed was quite cruel, Miss Garie."

"No kidding," I sighed. "How could anyone do that to another human being?"

"There's no telling why," Erato said. "That is what humanity is like."

We reached the house. I waited a couple of seconds before opening the door. It was quiet. I checked the entertainment room. It was empty. I went into the kitchen, thinking I'd make myself quickly to get rid of the stomachache I was getting. When I entered, though, I found Tim already in there, standing over the stove. He turned to look at me.

"You're back," he said quietly.

"Where are the others?"

"Upstairs," he said. The kettle on the stove that he'd been watching began to whistle. "Hot chocolate?" He asked, taking the kettle off.

I shrugged. "Sure."

Tim took down two mugs and two packages of instant chocolate. He handed me my mug, and we sat down at the kitchen table. Tim waited a couple of seconds before speaking.

"I'm sorry if I sounded mean earlier," Tim said, taking a sip from his mug. "All our lives we've been waiting for the Shaman Fight. All of us knew what it would entail. I didn't think you'd have such a problem with it."

I looked down at my mug. Even though it was really hot out there, my fingers felt icy. The warmth of the mug felt good. "I don't care," I said quietly. "I should've known this would happen."

Tim nodded. "It's a barbaric contest. Every person who competes wants to be the next ruler of the universe. To have so much power," Tim shivered. "It's impossible to imagine what it would be like."

"What will happen to their bodies?" I asked. He knew I was referring to the Nile's bodies.

"A coroner will clean them up and send them back to their families," Tim replied. "Every shaman was warned at the beginning that not everyone would return home alive. It's almost a war."

I drank my chocolate quietly. I couldn't think of anything but those three men. They didn't know that they would be killed so soon. Nobody expects it until it happens. No one can really predict their own deaths. Sure, they can try, based on their health, or anything technical or scientific. But there's a truth that even scientists have to admit. No one can predict the future.

"Tim," I looked back at him. While I was busy thinking, he had been sitting quietly, watching me. Now he looked at me expectantly. "What did you guys mean when you said that the third time was a charm for Hao?"

Tim's eyes widened. It was off topic, I know, but I had been wondering about that all day, and when I saw Hao earlier, the question was just intensified.

"I always have to remind myself that you're not from the village," Tim said, smiling. "This isn't Hao's first fight. It's his third."

"Say what now?" I asked, completely unsure of what he meant.

Tim nodded. "It's a complicated story, but as basically as I can put it, a thousand years ago, Hao participated in the fight, but he was killed. He was a powerful shaman, though, so after five hundred years in Hell, he was able to reincarnate into the Patch tribe."

A thousand questions formed themselves in my mind. I chose the one that I was having the most issues with. "So Hao is actually a thousand years old?"

"Well, his spirit is. I mean, if his body were a thousand years old, it'd be pretty noticeable."

"What did he do in the Patch?" I asked the second most problematic question.

"He became a priest, but he wanted to become the Shaman King, so he stole one of the five elemental spirits and became a contestant." Tim's eyes narrowed. "Don't you know this story? It's one of the most popular stories in the tribe. Hao's the reason why we're not allowed to compete in the fight."

I let that register in my mind. "So that idiot five hundred years ago was Hao?" I leaned back in my chair, feeling like my brain had just been fried. "Now I really want to beat him up. So, how come he didn't win?"

"Because the family he had belonged to five hundred years earlier came to save the day and killed him," Tim replied, giving the story a strange ending. "But Hao was really determined, so he decided to reincarnate yet again and come back as the Hao that you know now."

"Holy crap," I said under my breath. "He must be really strong."

"If you saw his furyoku level, you'd run away from him with your tail between your legs," Tim agreed. He downed the rest of his chocolate. "He's really determined, though. No matter how many times he dies, he just keeps coming right back."

"What a creeper," I said, finishing my own mug of chocolate.

"That must be a popular story in your family, Garie," Tim said, taking my mug and putting it in the sink. "You know, under the circumstances."

"Circumstances?" I asked, confused. "What circumstances?"

Tim looked at me, and suddenly his look became alarmed. "Crap, Silva hasn't told you yet?"

"Told me what?" I stood up and walked over to him.

"Well, it's just that, that Hao from five hundred years ago," Tim said. "You're his descendant, Garie."

My eyes widened. "I'm his _what_?"

"His descendant," Tim said, then he thought about it for a second. "So, you're kind of related to him."

"Kind of?" I laughed scornfully. "And this tiny little detail couldn't have been expressed to me earlier? What the hell?" I leaned back against the kitchen table. "This is so weird."

"No kidding," Tim laughed. "I thought your mom would've told you."

"Apparently not," The thought of being related to that guy sent shivers running down my spine. This was just too weird. I thought about it. "Well, technically I'm not related to the current Hao, am I?"

Tim thought for a second. "I guess not. The current Hao was born to a Japanese family, probably his original one. So no, you're not related to him as much as you were to the last one."

I sighed with relief. "Well, that's good. At least I don't have to think about that."

Tim laughed. "Then I'll give you something else to think about," he said. "You do still owe me for this morning."

My eyes narrowed. "Of course, how could I forget?"

"Well, I think I've decided what I want you to do." Tim said.

"What?" I asked, my arms crossed over my chest.

Tim was silent for a second. "I'll tell you later," he said with a smirk, then he walked out of the room, leaving me standing there. _Well, _I thought in annoyance. _Just give me yet another thing to keep in mind!_

**Yay! Another chapter **_**finally**_** finished. It didn't take me as long as I thought it would, but it took a while to edit. I kept adding and taking out scenes, but I have finally done it! So, Garie is finally finding out what it's like to be part of the Shaman Fight. Boy is she in for a shock when she sees Hao's next fight. I'm not sure if I'm going to add that into the story, though, so maybe it won't matter. Oh, and just in case you're all wondering: no, Garie does not end up with Hao. Feel free to guess who she does pair up with, though. I don't think it'll come as much of a shock later on :D**


	8. From the words of an ex follower

**Sorry I haven't posted anything lately. I've been so busy! I've been spending weeks stressing over projects and trying to keep up homework. Good thing spring break is almost here! It's kind of a slow, sentimental chapter, but hey, at least you'll get to find out some more about my OCs! Yay!**

"Here," Thalim handed me an apron. It was green, with the words _Patch's Cafe_ written across the front. I put it on over the black and white dress that I was wearing. My lovely Aunt Kim had actually decided to make me an entirely new wardrobe, mostly consisting of dresses and skirts. I didn't usually wear things like that, but Kim's dresses were gorgeous. The one I was wearing was a spaghetti strap that reached my knees. It was completely white, with the same black triangles that were around my bandana going all around the hem.

"Well," I said, looking down at my new apron. "At least I don't look like a complete idiot."

"Good," Thalim smiled brightly. "I'm glad you like it."

It was almost noon. Thalim had sent me a message the day before, telling me when he wanted me to work. After all that happened the day before, I was more than glad to do something that would take my mind away from everything.

I hadn't watched any more fights after the X-law fight. It turned out that one of the fights was so short that another fight was added to the schedule, making it five instead of four. The last fight was Hao's team against another X-law team. None of the X-laws survived. I felt glad that I'd spent that time texting Karissa and reading.

Today, everything seemed to be going slowly. The fights continued, but I ignored them, focusing instead on training and working. I didn't talk a whole lot to the other apprentices. Tim still hadn't told me what he was going to have me do for him. I mean, good for him and all for winning the bet, but why did he have to make me suffer?

"You can man the counters," Thalim told me, plugging in all of the coffee machines and checking that they worked. "Make sure everything stays tidy, and don't be afraid to talk to people. Try to be friendly. Make people feel welcome."

"You forgot to warn me about breaking things," I said. "What if I suddenly destroy one of the machines? Or if I set something on fire?"

Thalim paused for a second, then he smiled again. "Don't worry. I think you're smart enough to know how to deal with that." He turned away from me. "If you need me, I'll be in my office."

I sighed, leaning against the counter. There weren't any customers yet, and I secretly hoped that there wouldn't be any for a while. I don't know why, but I get serious stage fright in real life situations, which shouldn't even make sense. I don't understand why, because I'm a serious musician, and performing is very basically my life, but when it comes to actually communicating with people, well, I have issues. I kept thinking of all the terrible and embarrassing things I could do, and hoped still that today everything would be slow.

An hour later, I was still behind the counter, playing my ukulele and wondering if something was ever going to happen, when the first customer arrived, and I was surprised to see that it was Jordin. She looked slightly worried, and there was a gloomy look about her. When she spotted me, she smiled, but that didn't cover the worried look she was wearing. She made her way toward the counter.

"Hey Jordin," I said, inspecting her. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," Jordin said. "I'm kind of confused right now."

My eyes narrowed. "Is something wrong?"

"Sort of," Jordin said. "Can I talk to you about something? I'm looking for an outside opinion."

I shrugged. "Well, there's not much else for me to do. You want some coffee?"

Jordin nodded. "Yes, please. This might take a while."

While I prepared her order, Jordin turned on her stool to stare out the window. The worried look never left her face and I was afraid that she might start doing something weird, like screaming, or crying, or anything. She certainly did not look okay.

I handed her the cappuccino she ordered. "So, what's up?"

"Did you happen to watch Hao's fight yesterday?" Jordin began.

I shook my head. "I'm not watching anymore fights." I declared. "I hate blood and gore. Why, did I miss something important?"

"No, not really," Jordin said. "I was just wondering." She took a sip of her coffee before continuing. "The thing is I'm starting to get worried. I just…I don't know. I'm afraid."

"Of what?"

"Of Hao. Of the X-laws." Jordin said. "Of everything and everyone. I mean, I always knew the Shaman Fight would be hard. I've been training for years for just this. For some reason, though, I just can't get my mind around what's been happening."

"I hear you," I said, occupying myself with wiping down the counter. "All of these fights are becoming unbearable."

"It's not just that," Jordin said quietly. "I knew what Hao would do all along. I know him, and I know that he's not going to change, no matter what we do."

"Don't talk in riddle, Jordin," I said, really starting to get worried. "What's going on?"

Jordin looked at me. "Well, for starters, I just found out that Hao and Yoh are actually twins. Is that clear enough for you?"

I stared at her, eyes wide, for a couple of seconds. "Twins?" I asked. I was getting so used to shocking news that my voice didn't even get louder. "Hao and Yoh are twins?" I thought back to the two, and how I'd confused Hao for Yoh on the first night. Why hadn't I seen it earlier? "I knew they were related, but twins?"

"Yeah, it's shocking," Jordin said with a smile. "Apparently both Yoh and May have known for quite a while, but they chose to keep quiet about it."

"May knew?" She'd told me that she and Yoh weren't related at all. What a liar! "Why didn't she say anything?"

"I don't know. Ask her." Jordin looked at me in frustration.

"Are you upset that she didn't tell you?"

I knew that I'd struck something when Jordin looked away from me. "May's my best friend. Of course I'm upset that she didn't tell me. Wouldn't you feel the same if Karissa didn't tell you something so important?"

"You've got a point," I said. I would hate it if Karissa didn't tell me something like that. Jordin was right. Best friends are best friends no matter what.

"But it's not just that," Jordin said, sighing into her coffee. "I mean, she has a family now. She has two brothers now, and both of them love her." She took a sip. "I don't know why, but that just leaves me feeling shitty."

My eyes widened. "But, shouldn't you feel happy for her? I mean, she never knew who her parents were, and she does now. Isn't that good?"

"Yes, I know," Jordin said. "I am happy for her."

The two of us stayed silent for a couple of minutes. I cleaned the counter some more, but I could already see my reflection on it. I watched her quietly. She was staring out the window, her eyes clouded over with an emotion that I couldn't pinpoint.

"Jordin," I said. She looked at me, and I took a deep breath. "How come you and May left Hao?"

Jordin blinked at the question. "How do you know I was on Hao's side to begin with?"

"May told me, back at the Patch Village," I said, hoping that I hadn't ratted May out.

Jordin nodded. "Figures," she shrugged. "I guess I was just sick of being one of his little servants. We weren't important to him. All of us are disposable." She looked down at her coffee cup. "Leila proved that theory."

"Leila?" I asked, confused.

Jordin nodded. "My sister," she said. "She was ten years older than me. I was…an accident, I suppose. She was my only family after my parents died in a car crash, when I was six. I'd been in the foster system, because Leila wasn't old enough to be a guardian," she sighed again. "I guess we just wanted to find a way to escape it all. I was doing badly in school, and she was working her butt of day after day at work, trying to keep herself alive. I hated my foster parents, and they hated me. We wanted to get away from everything. Then Hao came, and he took us in. Leila was a shaman. My dad had taught her voodoo. I could see spirits, but I had no practice or talent with them. It was good enough for Hao, though."

I stayed silent as I heard Jordin talk. I don't know what came over me, but suddenly, I ignored everything around me and I just listened. I'm not a good listener at all, but this was something that I had to pay attention to.

"I was eight when we went with Hao," Jordin continued. "I met May, and we became friends within the first day. Hao was strange, and…wonderful," Jordin smiled a little. "And, well, he was nice. I've never met anyone who treated me as nice as he did. I guess I wanted to trust him. I learned everything from him, and he really took to me. I wasn't as important to him as May was. I knew that much. She was his little treasure; his shining star. Nothing could ever separate the two. But he never heard her talk behind his back. He never heard May complain about how much she wanted to grow up and be on her own. Usually, he never missed a thing, but with May, he just seemed to overlook it all.

"Anyway, right around the time when I was ten, we had just come to Japan. We were going to stay near Tokyo for a couple of years, just until the fights started. I can't really complain about those days. I've always hated Hao's other followers, especially the Hanagumi," when she saw my questioning look, Jordin explained. "They're the only other girls, Kana, Macchi, and Mari. They were always mean to me, and they liked making fun of me. The men were always getting drunk, but not to the point where they got violent. Hao wouldn't accept it. May and I kept to ourselves. Leila never really fit in with the others. She stayed because Hao had promised us that we'd stay together if everything went well. I guess the two of us were really holding out for that."

"Were you and your sister close?" I asked.

Jordin nodded. "We were inseparable."

"So, what happened?" I didn't want to sound too eager, but this was something I wanted to hear. Somehow, I knew what was going to happen in the end.

Jordin looked down again. "The X-laws happened."

My eyes widened. "The X-laws?"

Jordin nodded again. "They've always been obsessed with destroying Hao. Well, they…attacked us one day. I can't remember exactly what I was doing. May and I were off somewhere. But we heard some crashes coming from the house. There were only three X-laws. I don't know where everyone was that day, because only Bill and Boris were there. Hao wasn't there either. The X-laws weren't strong, but we were all annoyed that they'd come now. May and I wanted to fight them too, but suddenly, Leila was there, and she wouldn't let us pass. She joined the two men, and they fought hard, but none of them…noticed the fourth X-law, hiding behind the house. I saw him, and I screamed at them to look out, but they…they didn't hear me."

It took a while for Jordin to speak again, and I suddenly noticed that her eyes were filling with tears.

"You don't have to go on," I told her, quickly handing her a tissue. "I think I know where it goes from here."

She accepted the tissue, but she shook her head. "No, I won't go into detail. The fourth X-law killed my sister. I wasn't strong enough to help her, and neither was May. They left when they realized that Hao wasn't there, and they left us with Leila's body. Boris went to find Hao. Bill and May stayed with me." Jordin took a deep, shaky breath. "Hao came back, and we buried her. He didn't say anything to me. He didn't…seem to care at all. It didn't seem like he was even feeling bad about it." She put down the tissue. "I guess I realized then that nothing could shake his determination. Not even the death of his companions."

I stayed silent for a second. She didn't say anything for a little while, so I reached forward and grabbed her hand. She looked at me, her green eyes shining with tears.

"The X-laws killed Boris a couple of months ago," she said quietly. "Hao didn't do anything about that either. He's emotionless."

I didn't reply for a second. I was still taking in her story, and I felt so sad that I wanted to go curl up in a dark corner and cry myself to sleep. Instead, I cleared my throat painfully and refilled Jordin's cup.

"What did you do after you left Hao?" I asked, pouring myself a cup.

Jordin sipped her coffee. "Well, we just kind of ran around for a while. We had money, but we were too young to really do anything. We lived in tents for a long time. We didn't go to school or anything. We didn't need to." Jordin smiled. "Those were some of the best years of my life, when it was just May and me, with our spirits, running all across Japan. It was amazing."

"Sounds like fun," I said, smiling.

Jordin nodded. "We met Yoh in Tokyo, just before the Shaman Fight started. May and I decided to go back to school for a little while, just to see what it'd be like. I barely spoke Japanese, but I got through it. May exceeded at everything she tried, which isn't surprising at all. One night Manta found me talking to Amethyst. She's my spirit. He freaked and told Yoh, and Yoh got back to us full of questions. We explained our situation and he took us in, although Anna wasn't too happy about it."

"It doesn't look like she's ever happy about anything," I noted.

"I know, right?" Jordin said brightly. "It's like she got her face to be put permanently into a frown."

"Have you ever seen her laugh?" I asked, glad to be on a happier subject.

"I don't think I have," Jordin said, now smiling brightly.

We laughed together. It was nice to be on good terms with someone like Jordin, and it made me feel special that she'd chosen to come to me with her issues. It felt nice to be helpful, even if all I had to do was listen, which, mind you, isn't that bad. Maybe I should try it more often.

"What I don't understand is," I said casually a couple of minutes later. "If Yoh and Hao are twins and all, what exactly happened to split them apart?"

Jordin thought about it for a second. "Yoh told us about that actually. It turns out that Hao was strong enough to control his spirit when he was a newborn. He was able to get himself away from the Asakura family. They didn't tell Yoh about him, though. The same thing happened with May. Yoh didn't know about her at all."

"What happened with May, anyway?" I asked. "How did she end up with Hao?"

"I don't know the details too well," Jordin said with a shrug. "I think it's because Hao wanted someone from the Asakura family on his side, so when May was about a year old, he sent his spirit to kidnap her."

"Wow," I said. "He kidnapped her at that age?"

"Well, it's not like he mistreated her or anything." Jordin assured me. "I mean, May had a good childhood, even without any parents. She got to travel all around the world, learned a bunch of things, and became a strong shaman. Hao always treated her like a princess. He really loved her."

"Still," I said, sipping my coffee thoughtfully. "He must've been really lonely, if he went to those measures to get his sister."

"Yeah, he must've been." Jordin said, staring absently out the window again. "But May loves him, even if he's a cruel bastard."

"Come now," I said. "We're all entitled to love, no matter how twisted or maniacal the people we love are. Just look at me and my sisters. We can't stand to be in the same room with each other for more than ten minutes, and we still love each other."

Jordin laughed. "I don't know, I guess I am kind of jealous of May. She has a family who loves you, and I—" she trailed off.

"You have her," I said, leaning against the counter with my head in my hand. "And Yoh, and Sam, and Manta, and all of those other guys who's names always escape me." Jordin laughed quietly. I smiled and continued. "You have friends, honey. Friends who love and would do anything for you, because you're important to them, just like they are to you." I took her empty coffee cup and put it on the counter behind me. "If you ask me, that's the best family anyone could ever have."

Behind me, Jordin stayed silent for a little while. I looked back, and I found her staring at me with wide eyes. Finally, though, she broke out into a large smile. "Is that supposed to be some kind of guilt trip, or are you smoking something that I should know about?"

I threw a towel at her, even though I was laughing. "Don't make fun of me. I'm trying to help you here. Don't be so freaking ungrateful!"

Jordin laughed. "Okay, fine," she threw the towel back at me. "I get it. Being jealous of May is just stupid, and I should be glad for what I have, instead of coming here to complain to you about how much my life sucks."

"Well, I don't mind the complaining," I said. "I like having company. But yeah, jealousy isn't exactly the right way to go. I mean, come on, Yoh was already like a brother to May, so why should anything change just because it turns out that the two of them are actually related?"

"Yeah, you're right," Jordin said. I was glad that she was actually smiling now. Her worried look from earlier was completely gone now. "I guess I was just being immature."

I waved my hand dismissively. "Nah, you were just expressing your feelings. You wouldn't believe how hard it is for ninety percent of humans to do that. So where is May anyway?"

Jordin's eyes widened at the question, and she turned on her oracle bell. "I have no idea. Earlier she told me that she was going to settle some family matters, but right now I don't know what that actually means." She pressed some buttons. "I'll send her a message."

"Has she met her parents?" I asked out of curiosity. I didn't even know if Yoh's parents were even here. I'd never seen him around any other family member except May.

"She's met her dad as far as I can tell," Jordin said, pressing more buttons on her oracle bell. "Actually I've met him, too. He's a real weirdo. He has this mask that he never seems to take off. I heard he was a contestant."

"Wow," I said. "That's going to be an interesting person to meet." While Jordin sent her message, I looked around the restaurant. Everything was as empty as it'd been before. There was no sign of that changing anytime soon. "Where is everyone?"

"I don't know. The stadium got ruined at the last fight, so obviously nothing's happening there." Jordin said absently. "Maybe coffee isn't as popular as I thought it was."

"That's bullshit!" I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "Coffee is the most amazing drink in the world!"

Jordin laughed. "Watch your language." She was still looking at her oracle bell. "Why isn't she replying?"

"She must be busy," I said. I smiled mischievously. "She's probably with Ren."

"Probably," Jordin said with a sigh. "Oh well, I shouldn't worry about her anyway."

I nodded with approval and went back to making sure everything was tidy. Suddenly, though, I was distracted from my work when the door to the restaurant opened. I turned eagerly to see Sam burst through the door. She was breathing hard, and her red hair, usually so tidy and well kept, was wildly arranged around her pale face. Her blue eyes found Jordin and me at the counter, and she quickly made her way towards us.

"Sam?" Jordin got up from her stool and walked towards the distressed redhead. "Baby, are you okay?" Sam stopped in front of us, catching her breath.

"Jordin," Sam said, reaching towards the other girl. "Chocolove just sent me a message. Ren's hurt, badly."

"What happened?" Jordin asked.

"They got attacked," Sam said, on the verge of tears. "Ren, Horo Horo, Chocolove, and May were all at the river, and some of Hao's men appeared and attacked them."

At the sound of May's name, Jordin's eyes widened. "Are they fighting right now?"

"From what I know." Sam said. "Chocolove says there were some Patch people at the scene, but I don't know if they're telling the truth. Jordin, we have to go help them."

"What about Faust?" I said. "If Ren's hurt Faust better get out there."

"Yes," Sam turned to me. "Faust was the first one they contacted."

"Let's go," Jordin said. "We might still be able to help."

"I'm coming too," I said suddenly. The other two girls turned suddenly to me, surprised looks on their faces.

"Are you sure?" Jordin said. "I mean, you don't know these guys. They fight pretty rough."

"So what?" I said, throwing down my apron and strapping on my ukulele. "I'm sick and tired of all of you people trying to kill each other. And if it's true that there are Patch people out there, no matter on which side, it concerns me to be there. So let's get out of here!"

"What's all this then?" We all turned suddenly to see Thalim standing near the counter, a curious look on his face. I slapped myself internally for forgetting that I was still working.

"We have to sequester Garie for a couple of hours," Jordin said quickly, coming to my aid. "We kind of need her."

"Yeah," Sam said, reaching over to pull me out of the counter. "If that's okay with you."

"Thalim, I'm sorry," I said. "I just really need to help out with this. Their friends are in trouble."

Thalim smiled at me. "Sure. You're shift is almost done anyway."

"Oh, well then," I said, tossing him my apron. "I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks Thalim!"

Before he could say any more, Sam, Jordin and I were out the door, running as fast as we could. I had no idea where we were going, but the other girls seemed to know pretty well, because they were running full speed without even hesitating on any of the turns. I followed them as closely as I could, cursing myself silently for wearing a dress and sandals.


	9. Is hate the absence of love?

**Sorry for taking so long. I have no explanation except for the fact that school hates me, and I hate it. Glad we got that cleared. There are a lot of references to the manga in here. Excuse me if there not entirely accurate.**

* * *

The sight that greeted us at the river was a lot worse than I expected. I surveyed the damage done from where I stood on the bridge, and was surprised to see that no one was fighting. In fact, I didn't catch sight of any of Hao's lackeys, or of any Patch people. Still, there was a sense of dread and grief hanging in the air, and I suddenly saw why.

Lying on a large boulder, his eyes closed to the world around him, lay Tao Ren.

Next to me, I heard Sam gasp. "H-he's…"

Jordin stopped short in her tracks. "We're too late. Ren's already…"

"No," I said, refusing to believe it. Something like this just couldn't be true. "Come on, there still might be something we can do."

Near Ren's body, the spirit of a big, burly looking man in old-fashioned armor was kneeling, his eyes hidden by the huge helmet he was wearing. I couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like the spirit was crying. I turned my eyes to the rest of the people by the riverside. Yoh was down there, and he seemed to be arguing with Horo Horo and Chocolove. Faust was there too, along with Ryu, and May was sitting near Ren's boulder, watching the argument with a blank, almost traumatized look on her face.

Jordin, Sam, and I hurried down. Jordin and Sam went to May, trying to get information out of her, as well as comfort her. I went to Horo Horo and Chocolove, not caring how mad they were getting.

"What's going on?" I demanded immediately, causing all of them to shut up. "What the hell is wrong with Ren?"

Chocolove, who seemed to have a black eye, looked at me in surprise. "What are you doing here, Garie?"

"Seriously," Horo Horo huffed. "We've seen enough Patch around here as it is. Don't you people know when to stay out of things?"

I looked at him, unsure if this was really the nice guy I'd met just a couple of days ago. "Okay, first of all, Horo Horo, take a freaking chill pill. I'm trying to figure out who those Patch guys were so that I can take it up with them for causing something like this to happen. I don't need you bitching at me, so quit it. Now, could you please answer my question?"

"Ren got stabbed by an oversoul," Yoh responded blandly. "We're trying to revive him."

I let that process through my mind. "So, Ren is dead, but you're going to revive him?" I didn't know if that was extremely hopeful or extremely stupid. "Um, you do know that dead tissue cannot be reanimated, right? That's kind of the law of physics."

I heard a sigh from a little ways away. "It's a shamanic technique," May said, standing up with the help of both of her teammates. "Furyoku is applied in such a way that the spirit is forced to return to the body. I guess you could associate it with jumpstarting a heart with furyoku."

"That sounds slightly impossible," I replied. "How do you intend to do that?"

"We don't intend to do anything," Yoh said. At my questioning look, he added. "None of us have that sort of power. That's why we have to get help from Iron Maiden Jeanne."

"What?" I said with obvious disbelief. "You're getting that little murderer to—"

"We don't have another choice," May said. "There are only a two shamans who we know are strong enough to revive someone."

"So why couldn't get the other one?" I asked. "I mean anyone but Jeanne!"

"Because the only other shaman strong enough is Hao," Jordin replied gravely, a dark look overtaking her features. "And seeing as it was his men who killed Ren in the first place, reviving him probably isn't on Hao's to do list."

My fists clenched into fists. I guess it should've made me grateful that reviving Ren was even an option. The guy was a jerk, but it's not like I wanted him dead. But I couldn't stand the fact that they had to get someone like Jeanne to revive him. Why are do all of the people with useful skills have to be freaking psychos?

Suddenly, something else came to my mind.

"What makes you think she'll be willing to do it?" I asked Yoh.

"I took care of that already," Yoh admitted. "She'll revive him, on one condition."

"Which is?" I asked.

"I have to drop out of the fight." Yoh said abruptly.

"What?" It wasn't me this time, it was Jordin. "That little bitch is making you drop the fight? How the hell could she?"

"She has every right." Yoh said curtly. "As long as Ren is okay, I'll bear the consequences."

"But Yoh!" Chocolove insisted. "You've fought this far. How can you throw all of it away? What about Ryu and Faust? They're your teammates; shouldn't you talk to them about it first?"

"It's because Yoh care's too much about his friends," Ryu spoke up for the first time, lighting a cigarette. "So regardless of what happens I'll stand by him. That's the best place for me."

I looked at him questioningly before Faust spoke up for the first time. "It is also thanks to Yoh and Anna that I was able to see Eliza again. My only wish has been fulfilled."

"W-why do you–" Chocolove started.

"Forget it, Chocolove." Horo Horo said suddenly. "There's no use talking to these morons."

"Horo Horo?" Chocolove turned to him, a questioning look on his face.

"That's why we must definitely save Ren," Horo Horo continued, ignoring Chocolove. "If he dies, our dreams will also vanish, right Chocolove? So even if we lose our shamanic power, we must fight on." He turned to glare at Yoh. "But this guy here…he came late and still thinks his words can drive everyone away." It took me a second to realize that there were tears in his eyes. "I really can't stand it!" He said through clenched teeth. "I risked my life to save my friends, but in the end I still lose to this naïve guy."

All of us watched his outburst blankly. I didn't know what to do. I didn't have heart enough to comfort him, and quite honestly there was most likely no way that my words would even manage to get to him.

Horo Horo turned his back to us. "Anyway, this world is one where the weak get preyed upon by the strong. Even now, no matter how hard I try, in the eyes of others I'll still be a mad dog raving about." As a parting word, he glanced back. "The ice on Ren's body probably won't melt before they come. You must beg them to save him no matter what…but if he still cannot be saved, doing my duty as a friend, I'll never forgive you." He stared right at Yoh. "Until then, I'll definitely become stronger and come to seek revenge, Yoh."

With that, he turned and stalked away. A couple of minutes passed before Chocolove realized what was happening and started after him, yelling for him to stop. I stood in shock, deciding whether or not to clap.

"I can't believe this," Jordin sighed next to me.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Sam said, worry set on her face.

May stared ahead of her silently, then she glanced at Ren's dead body. "You're here about the Patch guys who started this, right Garie?"

I jumped slightly before turning my attention to her. "Y-yeah. Sam mentioned Patch guys. What were they doing?"

May glanced at me, and I could tell that whatever she was about to say, she wasn't happy about saying it. "They were with Hao, Garie." She said quietly. "The Patch aren't supposed to fight with contestants. That's why they got my brother's companions to fight us instead."

"But why did they want to fight you guys?" I asked, still unable to grasp this. Why would any Patch want to fight a contestant? And why was Ren the first fall? "The Patch is supposed to be neutral. We're not allowed to choose sides."

"Isn't you being here classified as choosing a side?" Sam asked. "Besides the fact that you hate the Iron Maiden."

"T-that's not the point!" I said. "It's not like I'm sending you guys out to kill the X-laws."

"Enough," May said, and I was surprised by the authority in her voice. "Garie, Sam's right. I know you're trying to be friendly towards us, and we all appreciate it, but we all have our places. You're a priestess, so that's what you should focus on. It's not right for us to pull you into our matters."

I felt an angry fire burn in the pit of my stomach. "Are you blind? Ren is dead because of some dudes who don't freaking know what side they're on. I'm trying to help you guys! Are you just going to turn me away and expect to solve all of this by yourselves?"

"If it is the only option, then so be it. Do not seek trouble that doesn't need to be made." May said in a steady tone. We looked into each other's eyes, and I could tell how clearly and completely serious the younger girl was. Even though I knew that if I had to, I could totally knock her down, I decided not to fight with her. I backed off with a sigh.

"At least tell me who the Patch guys were." I said. "And I promise to stay out of your business. And I'll try not to create too much trouble."

May turned her eyes back towards Ren. A couple of paces away from us, Yoh was talking to Ren's spirit and all of the other guys. Sam and Jordin were watching May and me quietly, neither daring to say anything that would have either of us attacking them. Finally, May sighed and turned back towards me.

"It was Nichrom. I don't know the name of the other priest, but they showed up and started this whole deal." With that, May turned away from me in a very final manner. "Farewell, Garie June."

* * *

I couldn't remember how long I'd been running. Rocks found their way into my sandals, cutting the bottoms of my feet, but I ignored them as best I could. My mind swam with horrible thoughts of doubt and uncertainty. And anger. A lot of anger. If my PE coach had been watching me run, he'd throw me into the track team the first chance he got. Unfortunately, the only ones watching me were confused contestants that were strolling through the streets.

It didn't matter one bit. I had no time to care about how weird it looked for me to be running with such speed. The only thing I could pay attention to was my anger, and the one to whom it was directed. I didn't even know where I was going. I guess I was hoping my thoughts would bring that horrid face to reality in front of me so that I could knock its brains out.

"Garie, why the rush?" I stopped in my tracks and turned back, recognizing that voice with an uncomfortable start. He was walking calmly, a placid look on his face, as if things couldn't be better. Ugh, I hated that look.

"Nichrom." I said, his name escaping my lips like a hiss.

"Yes, it is I," Nichrom said with a sneering laugh. "Although you don't look at all surprised to see me. What occasion do I owe for such a lovely visit from an apprentice?"

I hardly heard his words. All I could feel was the terrible anger that was taking control of my whole body. Everything within me burned, and the only need I felt was to see this horrible boy suffer. I tried hard to contain it, and to keep a cool head, but I failed miserably to even do that.

"Nichrom," I said, taking a step toward him, my tone full of vile. "You…you killed him."

"Killed?" Nichrom asked, his face showing mock surprise. "You must be mistaken, Garie. I haven't killed anyone."

"Liar!" Before I knew it, my hand was on his throat. It wasn't very hard to hold him there, seeing as he was so much shorter than me. "You were at the riverside. You had Hao's lackeys kill Ren. You're a fucking loser, you know that? How the hell could you join someone like Hao?"

Nichrom's face twisted into something very ugly and very hateful, similar to the look he had given me at our fight. He twisted out of my grip. "Don't ask stupid questions, Garie. Hao-sama's path is righteous. He will create a world for the right people. All of the weaklings will be destroyed. Ren's death was merely the beginning. If you had any common sense, you'd forget this ridiculous path that the Patch expects us to follow, and you'd turn your eyes to the truth."

"I don't give a damn about Hao's little sermons," I said, grabbing my ukulele tightly. "You're just going to turn away from everything? Your culture? Your family? Just to join some fool who thinks he can change the course of the world because he knows a few magic tricks? What about the Great Spirits? You're dishonoring them by joining Hao."

"What would you know about honor, bitch?" Nichrom said, his eyes dangerously lit. I could tell I was getting myself into something very bad by arguing with him, but somehow, that didn't stop me from glaring at him with just as much force. "You don't know the first thing about being a Patch. You barely know a thing about being a shaman."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" I asked. In my hands, my ukulele shook.

"Well, considering your family, it's a wonder you even have enough furyoku to see spirits."

"I told you to stop talking crap about my family!"

"Why should I? They're nothing but humans, after all." He said the word 'humans' as if there was a terrible taste in his mouth.

"That's it!" I released a large amount of furyoku into my ukulele, and in a couple of seconds my scythe had appeared, and I was already swinging at the jerk that stood in front of me.

"Take it easy, Garie." Nichrom said, calmly avoiding my scythe with his own oversoul. "You wouldn't want to get poisoned again. I'm not allowed to kill contestants, but no one ever said a thing about killing apprentices."

"Shut the fuck up!" I yelled, trying hard to catch him with my blade. "I beat you once, and I can beat you again."

Nichrom laughed. "That wasn't a real shaman fight. Poking your enemies with a stick isn't going to make them go away."

"Yeah, but it made you look ridiculous in front of hundreds of people." I said, sourness lacing my tone.

At this, Nichrom's eyes narrowed, and I was surprised to see that that actually got to him. He came at me, and I could tell his intention this time was definitely to kill me. Even so, I didn't allow fear to cloud my mind. I fought as hard as I could, anger reflected in every swing of my scythe. I really wanted to show this bastard. I just had no idea what it was that I wanted to show.

We were like this for a while, and I could feel my strength decreasing with each missed strike. I knew that he knew what was happening, and he took it to his advantage. I could see the end nearing, and it wasn't a very nice sight.

"Be sure to say hi to Ren when you see him, Garie." Nichrom said, a smile set on his evil features.

"Oh, I will," I said. I used every ounce of furyoku that I had left and swung one last time. The strength of the swing caught Nichrom off guard, and he stumbled a little. Without hesitating, I planted a very karate-like kick on his stomach, and he fell back. He tried getting up again, but I stuck my foot on his throat and held it there, making sure that he could see me.

"Next time you go off killing people," I said as steadily as I could. "I hope you spare a thought to your brother, and what he might think if he saw you acting this way."

Nichrom glared at me with pure, unmasked hate. Any other day, I would've crumpled pathetically, but not today. Today I glared right back at him, hoping that my look would overcome his.

"Don't talk about my brother." Nichrom hissed, but with hardly any energy left.

"Don't be a bastard, and maybe then we'll talk." I said. I removed my foot and began to walk away, hoping that I'd somehow burn off all of the excess anger later. Behind me, I heard Nichrom get up.

"Y-you bitch," he said. "You and your family will be wiped out when Hao-sama wins the Shaman Fight. You and every other weakling on this island. Only strong shamans will remain. That's how it's supposed to be."

I turned back to face him. He looked pathetic with his features twisted in such intense anger. He looked like a desperate kid looking for the right path. It's such a shame that he chose a horribly wrong path.

I didn't reply. I turned again and walked away, my fists clenched in anger, and wondering what the hell I'd gained by lashing out like that. Maybe I just created more trouble. I mean, who was to say that he wasn't going to tell Hao, who would probably just come and kill me and my family on the spot. I shivered slightly. Hao was just getting scarier and scarier with every bit I learned about him.

* * *

**Well that took…a while. Awesome! Another finished chapter. Time to work on the new ones! Yay!**


	10. Where I stand

**Ten chapters! My goodness! I should celebrate!**

**Call it writer's block, or just having no time, but keeping a story going is harder than I thought. I will try to keep writing as much as possible, but my next show opens next week, and I'm stressing beyond belief. I can't wait until summer! I want to sleep! **

* * *

He was like a specter emerging from the mist. He was shirtless, with a towel on his shoulders. I winced at the angry red scar that now ran vertically on his chest. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to hug him or run away from him. I didn't do either. He didn't either. He stood a couple of paces away from me, and we stared at each other, both of us with wary expressions.

He was the first to speak. "Hello, priestess."

I started slightly at the greeting, but I spoke calmly. "So it's true. Reviving the dead is possible."

"No one ever said it wasn't." Ren replied. "Not for shamans, at least."

"Of course, shamans can do that kind of stuff." I said, though my tone was bitter. "We're not even classified as humans anymore. It's like we're a whole other species."

Ren stayed silent before asking: "Where can I find Yoh?"

I blinked. I hadn't seen Yoh since I ran away from the beach. After my encounter with Nichrom, I'd been wandering around aimlessly for hours. Erato had tried to speak to me, to get something out of me, but I refused to say anything. I was tired, but I didn't go to the house. I didn't want to face the other apprentices, or my uncle, or any of the other Patch guys. It was weird, but the one thing I really wanted to do was talk to my mom. It's a shame my phone was charging at the house, or else I probably would've called her.

"I don't know." I replied. I shrugged. "He's probably off trying clear his head. Or getting chewed out by Anna."

Ren nodded. "So you heard what he did for me." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, I went to the beach earlier. The others weren't too happy about Yoh's decision."

"I wouldn't be happy either." Ren admitted. "I'm looking for him so that I can beat him up."

"Wow," I said. "Don't tell me you're ungrateful."

"Ungrateful is the wrong word to describe it." Ren said bitterly. "I can't forgive him for giving up the Shaman Fight. Risking his dream for my life was unnecessary, and I'm not happy about it."

Despite everything that I'd been through that day, I laughed. "You are impossible to please. I guess it's that evil rich kid gene in you. But really dude, I'm glad to see you back on your feet, no matter how snotty you are. And I bet everyone else is glad about it too, unless they're just as ungrateful as you are."

Ren rolled his eyes. "You really shouldn't meddle in things that aren't your business."

"You sound just like my uncle. And May, for that matter." I said, not willing to accept this from him too. "I can't just turn my eyes away when someone gets hurt unfairly. I'm sorry, Ren, but I can't stand all of this killing going on."

Ren held my gaze steadily, and I thought he was going to criticize me again, or somehow insult me, or something. I was very much surprised by his reply.

"Thank you, Garie."

I stared at him for a second, looking for words, but he didn't stay long enough. He walked past me and headed away. I stared at him, eyes wide. I was silent, but inside my head I heard a voice screaming at the top of its lungs. Tao Ren had just thanked me. Hell must be freezing over.

I stood there for a couple of seconds before turning back to where Ren had come from and seeing two figures coming towards me. One of them was very tall, while the other was the size of a small child. As they came closer, I realized that it was Ryu and Manta. I stared at them, but I didn't say anything. They stopped in front of me, panting.

"Which way did he go?" Manta asked, almost out of breath.

Instead of replying, I pointed behind me, where Ren had disappeared. The two guys thanked me quickly and ran off in that direction, leaving me in the same position of before. Then, I sighed.

"Erato," I said. My spirit appeared next to me, looking worried. I refused to look at her in the eye. "D-do you think it's like this at every shaman fight?"

"Like what?" Erato asked gently.

I walked slowly, but I didn't see the road in front of me. "Everyone against each other. All of these groups trying to kill each other." I shook my head. "Why is there so much hate?"

"I don't know, Miss Garie." Erato admitted sadly. "It is like humans to hate, and to destroy."

"Humans," I said bitterly. "Can we still use such a word? Since I got here everything has been humans this and shamans that. What the hell is the difference? We're all mortal. We all die in the end. Who are we to classify each other?" I covered my face with my hands. "Why do we have to be so damn selfish?"

Erato floated silently beside me. I knew it was useless to ask these questions, especially to someone who wasn't even alive, but I felt so desperate at this point. I couldn't stop wondering why everything was so screwed up. And whose fault was it? Was it Hao who had started all this? Was it the fault of people who couldn't see spirits? It was impossible for me to say.

I wondered where I stood in all of this. It definitely wasn't with Hao, but maybe it wasn't with the Patch either. I suddenly found myself wishing that I hadn't come here. I wished I had ignored that horrible guy who had been cheating on my best friend. I wished I was good at keeping secrets from Karissa. I wished I hadn't spoiled her happiness. Maybe that might've prevented me from getting mixed up with all of this. I said so to Erato.

"You shouldn't think that way, Miss Garie." Erato said. "You did the right thing. You saved your best friend from getting hurt in a different way. It could've ended up a lot worse." She waited for me to reply, but I stayed silent. "And think about all the friends you've made, like Tim, and the other apprentices. And what about Yoh and May, and the others?"

"May just defriended me," I said. "She practically told me that she never wanted to talk to me again. She's probably going to tell all of her friends to stay away from me."

"I don't think it's that bad," Erato said softly. "I think May was just sad because of what happened to Ren. You know how close she is to him."

"She was right, though. I do get into things that don't concern me. I can't help it, though. I just…" I trailed off. I couldn't think of the right words to express my thoughts.

Erato and I walked silently until we got to the house. I entered, noticing that it was strangely quiet. It seemed like no one was home.

"Hello?" I called. "I'm back!" I went into the kitchen, which was empty, then I searched the other rooms. "Tim? Where are you guys?"

No answer. I was alone. I went to my room and unhooked my phone from the charger. It was almost five in the afternoon. Why wasn't anyone home?

I stuck my phone in my pocket and went to the bathroom. I stared at my reflection in wonder. Just this morning, I'd been serving coffee and talking to Jordin. Now, everything was a big bundle of nerves and confusion. I stared at my wild eyes, my messy hair, and my sweaty brow. It was the complete opposite of the tidy waitress I'd been this morning. Can people change so quickly?

I took a deep breath and washed my face, pulling my hair into a braid. I looked at my reflection again.

I sighed to myself. "A few days ago I was just some girl trying to protect her best friend." I stared into my reflection's eyes. "Now, I don't know what I am."

"You have not changed, Miss Garie." Erato said, appearing next to me. "You are yourself, no matter where you go, or who you meet." She put her ghostly hand on my shoulder, though all I felt was a cold draft. "You are a strong girl, Miss Garie. There is no force in the world strong enough to break you."

I smiled a little, my eyes still on my reflection.

Suddenly, there was a large crash from the ground floor, snapping me back to reality. I ran to the top of the stairs and looked down. Tim was there, along with Mariah and Gabe. Rutherfor wasn't with them.

"Garie," Tim practically flew up the stairs and grabbed my shoulders. "What happened today? I heard a fight broke out on the river."

"Yeah," Mariah said, running up with Gabe at her heels. "Who started it? We heard Tao Ren was killed."

"Uh, yeah," I said. "But he was revived, so there really wasn't much damage done."

"But how did it start?" Gabe asked frantically.

"I-I don't know the exact details." I admitted in a rush. "Nichrom and some other priest were down there and they kind of got Hao's men to attack Ren and his group."

"Wait, Nichrom started it?" Tim asked, his eyes shining with new anger. "The nerve of that guy."

"Don't bother going after him," I said, rolling my eyes. "I took care of it. I don't think we're ever going to make up after this, but it's not like I even give a damn."

"What did you do to him?" Gabe asked.

I shrugged. "Nothing, really. He insulted me, so I knocked him down and walked away. I'm not about to go around killing anyone."

"He's lucky it was you and not me." Mariah said, fuming. "I would've beaten his sorry ass to death."

"I have to agree with you on that one." Gabe said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Whatever punishment you gave him, Garie, he deserved it."

"That and more." Mariah said finally.

Tim shook his head at them before turning his attention back to me. "Did you see any other fights break out today?"

"Other fights? Who else was fighting?" I asked, clueless.

"Fights have been breaking out all over the island." Tim said, his eyes narrowed with worry. "Hao's men are all going around. They seem to be collecting spirits."

"Collecting spirits?" I asked, clueless. "For what?"

The other apprentices blinked at me. "For his spirit," Gabe said, looking at me as if I had just come out wearing a bright pink tutu and purple wig. "Duh. His spirit is fueled by spirits."

"Gross," I couldn't help but say. "His spirit eats other spirits? That's disgusting."

"That's how Hao gets more powerful." Mariah said. "The more spirits the Spirit of Fire consumes, the stronger it gets. It's disgusting, yes, but that's how it happens."

"He's been sending out his lackeys to collect the spirits of whatever shamans they can kill, along with the shaman's spirit." Tim said gravely. "I wouldn't be surprised if he came after our own spirits."

"After us? We're Patch people." I said. "That wouldn't be very much in his favor, would it?"

"There's nothing stopping him." Tim replied. "If contestants get in fights with the priests then, yes, they'd get in trouble. But we're apprentices, Garie." He shook his head. "There's no law stopping anyone from killing us."

I remembered hearing something similar from Nichrom, and I realized just how much it sucked to be an apprentice. It's like, suddenly, everyone wants you dead in some way, shape or form. It wasn't a very good feeling.

"So what are we going to do?" I asked, a hopeless feeling taking over my body.

The others looked back at me with expressions that seemed to mirror my own feelings. "Stay safe, try not to die." Tim shrugged. "Make it out alive. It's the best we can do until the new king is crowned."

I felt a sharp pain in the pit my stomach when he said this, but I chose to ignore it. "So where's Ruth?"

"The priests are having a meeting tonight," Gabe replied. "Something to do with the budget. Nothing interesting."

I nodded. "I'm taking a nap." I said abruptly.

"Okay," Mariah said. "We'll have dinner ready later, if you get hungry."

I didn't reply. Instead, I went into my room and closed the door, throwing myself on the bed and closing my eyes. I didn't sleep yet. My head was too crowded with thought. I dug my phone out of my pocket and dialed a familiar number.

She didn't pick up. Her voice said to leave a message.

"Mom, where are you?" I said, sounding almost like a scared child. "I've been trying to call you for days now, but you won't answer. Please call me. I really need to talk to you. I love you. Bye."

I closed my phone and laid it on the bed-side table. I stared out the window at the setting sun, my eyes closing halfway. The sky was darkening, and a cool breeze was blowing through my window, making the summer heat somewhat bearable. I sighed and closed my eyes all the way, drifting into a light slumber.

* * *

I was awakened by a crash. I shot straight up in bed and looked around, freaking out. It was dark outside, and I was shivering from the cold. My room was dark and eerie. My alarm clock read 11:21. I ran to the window and looked outside, but I didn't see anything.

"What's going on, Erato?" I asked.

"I will check, Miss Garie." As Erato flew out the window, I ran out of my room and down the stairs. The only light on was coming from the entertainment room. I entered, finding Ruth and Mariah in their pajamas, both standing with surprised looks on their faces. In the background, some sort of anime with half-animal girls was playing, but I hardly paid attention to that. Two seconds later, Tim, wearing nothing but boxers, and Gabe, who was in a t-shirt and sweatpants, crashed through the threshold.

"What's going on?" Tim asked. "Is anyone hurt?"

"No," Mariah said. "It wasn't here. Something must be going on outside."

"Could it be the volcano?" Gabe asked.

"I doubt it." Ruth said. "The volcano is supposed to be dormant. We can't hold a tournament on an island with an active volcano on it."

"Then what was it?" I asked. "It sounded like the sky was falling out there."

"Maybe someone's fighting." Tim offered.

"Ugh, there should be a 'no fighting after eight o'clock' rule on this island." I said, exasperated. "There are some of us who _like_ sleeping."

"We don't know if that's what it was." Ruth said quickly. "This could be serious."

Before any of us could reply, Erato appeared. She floated up to the group. "You wouldn't believe what's happening, Miss Garie."

"What's going on?" Tim asked the spirit.

Erato addressed everyone. "There's a huge fight going on in the forest. Hao's men, and Yoh's friends, and even some X-laws are there. I saw some shamans I didn't recognize, and they had some sort of metal thing that resembled a man, but it wasn't."

"Like, a robot?" Gabe asked.

"Yes, I supposed that's what you would call it." Erato said. "It was big, and it would shoot lasers from its chest."

"Who uses a robot as a weapon in the Shaman Fight?" I asked, confused.

"I know who." Gabe said. "A brother and a sister. They're orphans, and immigrants. The robot is both of theirs."

"They share it?" Mariah asked. "I didn't know that was allowed."

"Why are they fighting?" I asked Erato.

"I'm not sure." She admitted. "But it looked like Yoh was hurt, and so was the boy named Chocolove. Both of them seemed to be wounded very badly."

"We need to go and help them." I said decisively. I ignored the fact that everyone other than me was in their pajamas.

I was stopped by Tim's hand on my shoulder. "Hold on Garie. You know that the Patch aren't allowed to interfere in a fight. You'll get in trouble if Goldva catches you."

"That's not the problem!" I practically yelled at him, though I swear it wasn't intentional. "I can't stand all of this death! We're barely two or three days into the second round and everyone is killing each other!"

"Even if that is happening, you have no part interfering with the contestants." Tim said firmly. "You have to remember where you stand, Garie. You can't just go off trying to save the day all the time. You're an apprentice. You're not powerful enough to make any real difference."

His words went deeply into me, and I almost felt like I was going to fall. He was right, of course. I wasn't strong enough to make a difference. I was a weakling compared to those other shamans. I was nothing but a silly child pretending to be a super hero. Too bad reality hits so hard.

I shook Tim's hand off of my shoulder and ran up the stairs again, locking myself in my room. I felt like punching something, so I settled on beating up my pillow. It didn't bring a whole lot of satisfaction to me, but it helped me lose some energy. I sat on my bed, panting, letting go of my frustration.

I couldn't sleep anymore. I was wide awake, but I had no idea what I should do. I looked at my phone on the bedside table, and reached a decision. I dialed the number without even looking at the phone.

She picked up after a few rings.

"Hello?" A tired, half-asleep voice answered.

"Karissa, I really have to talk to you." I said, almost apologetically.

"Garie?" Almost immediately, Karissa's voice went from half-asleep to fully awake. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said quickly, then I really thought about the answer. "Well, I'm really not sure, actually."

"Well, what's wrong?" She asked. "You haven't called me in days. What's going on?"

"Um, well, to begin with, I'm in Japan."

"Japan?" Karissa exclaimed. "What the heck are you doing there?"

"It's a long story." I said. "The point is, I'm a priestess now, and I have a job, and there's a really hot dude trying to kill everyone."

"Okay, slow down." Karissa told me. "One thing at a time, starting with the hot dude. Who is he, and why is he killing everyone?"

"His name is Hao. I don't know a thing about him besides the fact that he's very distantly related to me in a past life, and he has a twin brother who I had a crush on three days ago before I found out that he's engaged." I said in a rush.

"Again," Karissa said, exasperated. "Slow down! I don't understand a thing you're saying. Related to you in a past life? How does that work out?"

I took a deep breath. "It's going to take too long to explain that. Someday I'll tell you the whole story, but my phone doesn't have that many minutes. Anyway, he's this weird power hungry dude who wants to be the shaman king, so he's sending his followers to destroy the other contestants. A dude died this morning, and it was really freaky because one of the Patch priests started the fight."

"Oh my God," Karissa breathed. "Have there been other deaths?"

"Yes, at the tournament's fights, but it's not only Hao's group doing the killing. This weird religious group, the X-laws, they're insane. They just randomly destroyed a group of Egyptians. And it looks like more of this crap is going to keep happening."

"My God, Garie, you have to get out of there." Karissa said, very much alarmed.

"I can't." I said, and I was surprised by how much I meant this. "It's not like I can just renounce my tribe. I have to stay here to find the new shaman king." I sighed. "My uncle told me that death at a shaman fight shouldn't come as a surprise. It's just one step closer to finding our new king."

"But Garie," Karissa argued. "What if one of those guys tries to kill you? I don't want to lose you."

I stayed silent for a second, and it took me a second to realize that my eyes were watering. I wiped at my eyes quickly, though it's not like anyone was going to see me. "I'll be fine, K. I promise."

"But what if you're not?" Karissa asked miserably. "What if I never hear from you again? What will I do without you, Garie?"

"If I die, I want you to call my spirit back." I said decisively. "I don't want to die young and have to go to the Great Spirit. That would just be a waste. Get a spell from my mom or my uncle and call me back, and I'll keep you company."

I thought Karissa was going to refuse. It was like her to try to beat ideas out of my head, especially those involving my death. Instead, she said, "Fine, but you have to do everything you can to stay alive. I'd much rather have you alive than dead."

I smiled. "I'll try."

"So, what's going on right now?" Karissa asked.

"Well, last I heard, a huge fight was breaking out, but the other apprentices aren't letting me go check it out."

"Why not? I thought it was your job to keep the peace or something." Karissa said.

"That's what I thought too," I replied. "But I keep getting hit with all this crap about choosing sides and where I stand and everything else. I'm not allowed to get into other people's business."

Karissa laughed, which surprised me. "Garie, you're all about getting into people's business. That's the whole reason why you're in Japan right now, because you get into things."

"Is that a bad thing?" I asked, confused.

"Well, sometimes," Karissa replied. "But sometimes it's a good thing. Like what you did for me back at school. I think that was a very good thing to do, even though I wish you hadn't beaten him up that badly. But sometimes it's good to just back off and let the chips fall where they may."

I sighed. "You're right. Maybe I'd better let it go for now."

"Good," Karissa said. "So, take my advice and get some sleep. I don't know what time zone Japan's in, but you sound tired."

"Fine," I said, noticing my ever growing fatigue. "I'll talk to you later."

"Yes, call me." Karissa ordered. "I'm sick of you leaving me in the dark for so long. You have a lot to explain, missy."

"Yeah, that might take a while." I said, now smiling. "Okay, I'll see you someday. That's a promise."

"It better be." Karissa said, and I could tell she was smiling too. "I love you. Bye."

"Love you too." I said. "Bye." I hung up and put my phone down again. I stared out the window for a second, and sighed. Hardly thinking about my actions, I stripped out of my dress, which I was still wearing, and pulled on my pajamas. I crawled under the covers and closed my eyes. Without sparing one last thought to the situation I was in, I fell asleep.

* * *

**I wanted to write more. This isn't how I intended to end the chapter. Oh well, it all works out. If you're still reading this: THANK YOU. If not: YOU'RE A LOSER! Hehe. I'm kidding. I love you all. Except those of you that I don't love, but that's not a whole lot of people. Thanks for reading. I'm going to keep trying to write. There's so much that I haven't put in! **


	11. Love is a bitter madness

**Glad to see you again! I hope you've enjoyed the story up until now. Please remember that a lot of this was written very, very late into the night, so if it doesn't necessarily make sense, I apologize and will try to fix it. **

* * *

I woke up earlier than usual. Bright sunlight streamed in through my window. I sighed and turned away from the window, closing my eyes and trying to fall asleep again.

Suddenly, loud, annoying beeping brought me back from dreamland. I started slightly at the sound. I sighed with frustration and grabbed my oracle bell from my bedside table. I pressed a button and a message popped up. I read the words written with growing confusion.

"**To the priestess apprentice, Garie Sullivan: You are summoned to the Patch control center today at 9:30 AM where important matters concerning the Shaman Fight will be discussed. Do not be late.**"

I wondered why I'd be needed so early in the morning, especially with everything going on. Then I realized it was probably because of everything going on that they needed me. I hoped I wasn't in trouble. Maybe they had found out about my fight with Nichrom. Was that not allowed? Oh god.

I climbed out of bed and quickly threw on some clothes. After I'd gotten ready, I ran down the stairs. No one was up. I looked at the clock. It was 8:43. They must've all been exhausted from the night before.

I poured myself a bowl of cereal and chewed slowly, thinking of all the possibilities for being called to the Patch control center. That was basically the place that controlled the whole island. Goldva would be there, no doubt.

What had I done? Was it because of my loyalty issues? Maybe they figured out that I don't like all of this stupid killing stuff. Was that wrong? Should I just keep my mouth shut and move on then?

I looked at the message over and over with growing worry, but it betrayed no real clues of what was going to happen, apart from the fact that it had to do with the tournament. It was all so confusing. I took a deep breath to calm myself and sent a quick message to Silva. He'd probably know what was going on.

I sent the message and waited. He didn't reply. I waited longer, almost half an hour, but no answer came. That was strange. It was a rule to have our oracle bells turned on and near us all the time. It wasn't like Silva to just turn it off or leave it somewhere. What was going on?

I looked back at the clock. I had fifteen minutes left.

"Okay then," I said to myself. "Let's see what this random meeting is about."

I found the control center. It's a building positioned so close to the stadium that you'd probably run into it and break your nose if you weren't looking up on your way home from a fight. I don't know if this was the Patch's way of being stealthy about the operation they were running, or they just didn't know where else to set up a control center.

It was my first time inside. It wasn't very impressive. Like every other building on this island, it was made of cement. I knew that within these rooms, screens were showing live feeds of events happening all over the island. I doubt they were looking for foul play, though. I think they just wanted people to think that they had their eye on the situation.

I hunted around for a little while trying to figure out where I was going. There didn't seem to be anyone around. As I walked around though, I passed a half-open door. Any other day, I would've dismissed it easily, if it weren't for the fact that I heard voices. I stood in front of the door, getting ready to open the door, but something stopped me.

"This means we have to move. Correct, Goldva-sama?"

My whole body froze, then boiled at the sound of the voice. My hands clenched into fists, and I had to convince myself not to burst through the door and choke the owner of the voice. Instead I stood stalk still and listened.

"That's right." This time, the voice belonged to Goldva. "What's your plan, Nichrom?"

Nichrom's reply sent a jolt up my spine, and I almost gasped out loud.

"Are you sure you want to leave that traitor that wanted to steal the remaining four nature spirits alive?" Nichrom said. "That Silva, he must be punished as soon as possible; otherwise we could lose the loyalty of the other shamans."

My eyes widened in horror, and I took a step back. Silva? What had he done? What were the nature spirits, and why had Silva tried to steal them? I willed my mind to quiet down as I heard Goldva's reply, which filled me with even more horror.

"You're right." Goldva replied, and I had to struggle to keep myself from gasping. "Renim and Bron, are you there?"

"Oh, those two!" I heard someone, whom I think was Kalim, exclaim.

There was a bit of shifting on the other side of the door, like two sets of footsteps walking. "Those two…what?" An unfamiliar, airy voice said. I realized it was the voice of Renim, one of the ten priests. I wondered if he and Bron were going to be the ones to punish Silva. I listened intently to hear the answer.

Goldva spoke again. "I command you to reestablish Silva," he said calmly. "It doesn't matter if you treat him in a cruel way. Just educate him before the new shaman king is born."

This time I didn't hold back. I crashed through the door, causing everyone in the room to start and turn towards me in alarm. I ignored everyone as I ran to where Goldva was sitting.

"What's the meaning of this?" I asked, the tone of my voice surprising even me. "What did Silva do that was so terrible?"

Nichrom was the first to speak up. "Goldva, do you want me to get rid of her?"

I turned and bared my teeth at him, though I'm not sure why. It just seemed like a tough, animalistic thing to do. "Shut up, dumb-shit."

"Watch your mouth, young lady." Another priest, whom I barely recognized as Magna, warned me. I chose to ignore him and turned back towards Goldva.

"I'm here about the message that was sent to me. But now you've gotten me curious. What's going on with Silva that calls for a punishment?"

Goldva looked at me calmly. "You are his apprentice, so I suppose you should know. Your uncle tried to steal Patch treasure. For that, he must be punished." He put his hand up before I could even begin to argue. "This is our rule," he said firmly. "Silva has to work as one of our family. You cannot distinguish good from evil. Like the story of the Earth, the only truth is the result of action. Even in the Shaman Fight, only the result matters. Do you understand that, Garie June?"

I let the information settle in my mind, but it still didn't feel right. Even if what Silva had done was wrong, wasn't there a different way for him to pay for his mistake.

"No," I said harshly. "I don't understand a thing that's going on here. Everyone's acting like there's no choice left in this fight. Like the winner has already been decided. It's like half of you guys already gave up."

"That's ridiculous." Magna spoke up. I already knew that I wasn't going to get along with him very well. "The Patch people are partial. We do not know who the winner of this fight will be, nor are we allowed to help any particular contestant get any closer than anyone else. Doing anything like that would dishonor the Great Spirit."

"That's not what Nichrom's had me believe," I said sarcastically. "It looks to me like he's been ignoring that rule for a while."

"Ludicrous." Nichrom said. His tone was calm, but I could see his eyes flash wildly. "Why would I dishonor my tribe in such a manner?"

"Oh don't act all innocent." I hissed at him. "You know as well as I do that you were at the river yesterday. You were the one who killed Tao Ren. Don't bother denying it."

"I admit to being there," Nichrom responded. "But I didn't do anything. Patch priests aren't allowed to fight with contestants. You should know that Garie."

"I do know that." I said. I turned back to Goldva. "He got Hao's lackeys to do it. Nichrom's on his side. And it doesn't even look like he's trying to keep it a secret."

"She's delusional," Nichrom said to Goldva. "I follow no one but the Great Spirit."

"You're going to be part of the Great Spirit if you don't tell the truth." I threatened, reaching for my ukulele.

"Bring it, Sullivan."

"Both of you," Goldva said so violently that I almost jumped out of my skin. "There will be no fighting in here. Whatever problem you have with each other, take care of it on your own time. I will have no more of these rumors."

"What rumors?" I hate it when teachers and tribe leaders don't believe you. "I'm telling the truth here!"

"I said I will have none of it." Goldva said. "You are a priestess, and a lady, Garie June. From now on, I expect you to act as such. If you can't learn to act properly, you will be on the next boat back to America. Understand?"

My hands balled into fists, but I didn't argue anymore. "Yes." I said through clenched teeth.

Goldva nodded and addressed the five priests behind me. "Renim, Bron, get to it." The two nodded and backed out of the room, and I felt a new wave of anger because I didn't say anything to stop them. "The rest of you," Goldva addressed Kalim, Magna, and Nichrom. "Leave us. There's something I have to discuss with Garie June."

The others nodded and left me standing alone in front of Goldva. I waited for him to speak. While I waited, Goldva filled his long pipe with tobacco and lit it. He seemed to be deep in thought, so I didn't say anything.

"Garie June," it was a little weird to me that he was addressing me by both my first and middle name, but I chose to ignore it. "You know that it is our job to find the new king." _Oh god, _I groaned inwardly. _Not this again. _"To run an operation such as this, a lot of things are necessary. To be a priestess in such an era is an honor indeed."

I held back a sigh. "I know, Goldva-sama."

"Then, show it." Goldva ordered. "You look miserable, and you're only a teenager. Life may be unfair, but it certainly isn't depressing."

My eyes narrowed. "Uh, okay."

Goldva smiled for the first time since I'd seen him. "I know you're wondering why I sent you that message, so here it is." He swiveled his chair around to face the large screen behind him. He typed a couple of things into a huge keyboard, and the screen changed to show a chart of some sort with a lot of pictures on it. They were headshots, like you would see in a résumé. Some spots were blank. I recognized a lot of the pictures. May's team was up there, and Ren's, and Hao's, and a few other teams. Some I just didn't recognize, but I chose to ignore them. What I didn't understand was why Yoh and his team were up there if they had to drop the fight to save Ren. Obviously, I missed something big again.

"Are these the remaining shamans?" I ventured out loud.

Goldva nodded. "We are already approaching the end of the second round."

"Damn that was fast."

"Not necessarily." Goldva said. "We've been holding many fights every day, and there have been the usual fights on the side that have eliminated the weaker shamans." I flinched slightly when he said this. "Pretty soon, the third round will begin. I have a task for you to do before it begins."

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

"Have you ever heard of the continent of Mu, Garie June?" Goldva asked.

"The continent of…Moo?" I asked, confused. "Like a cow's moo?"

"No, it is spelled M-u." Goldva corrected. "It is an ancient continent that was sunken thousands of years ago."

"Well, I guess it sucks for them, huh?" I said.

Goldva glanced back at me, but didn't comment. He pressed a couple of buttons, and the screen shot to a bunch of pictures of some sort of city. "These pictures were taken recently by some scouts I sent down to search the continent."

"Wow," I looked at the pictures. The buildings shown were old, but they were intact. Not like the ruins of the Aztec and Mayan cities. These looked to be in perfect condition. "Are there still people living there?"

"Unfortunately, no." Goldva replied. "The people of Mu were wiped out when the island was sunken, but they were very advanced technicians, more so than any other super culture in the world, so every bit of their technology still works, even today."

"That's amazing," I said, mesmerized by the pictures.

Goldva nodded in agreement. "After their civilization was wiped out, the early Patch people decided to use the island to their advantage. The third round of every shaman fight since then has been held there."

"How come?"

"Because when the new shaman king is crowned, it is required for him to go into a death-like sleep that will allow his spirit to merge with the Great Spirit. The chamber where this happens is in the heart of the continent, and is guarded by ten other chambers that keep anyone trying to hurt the shaman king out. It is the ultimate place to become the king."

"Damn," I whistled. "That's intense."

"I'm glad you think so." Goldva said. He swiveled his chair back to face me. "Now, about your task…"

* * *

"I'm going now, Thalim." I said in a rush as I stood in the threshold of my boss' office.

"Thank you, Garie." Thalim said with a smile. "You worked hard today."

I wondered if he knew what was on my mind at the moment. Did he know what had happened to my uncle? What was happening to me? It was impossible to tell. Thalim's expression was always so easy, so calm. It was like nothing in the world ever bothered him.

I left the coffee shop. After my meeting with Goldva, I'd come straight here and worked as hard as I could. Even after my shift was over, I stayed and helped out Mariah, who took the shift after mine. I didn't chat much. I just kept my head down and did the work, trying to keep myself from worrying about what Goldva had said to me.

I walked aimlessly for a while. It was getting late. The sky was already getting dark, but I had no intention of going home or even heading in that general direction. Instead I took a couple of random turns and soon found myself in front of a large field.

"Well, this looks promising." I muttered as I walked through it and plopped down on the ground. I looked up at the sky. It was clouding over.

"It's going to rain soon," I said, though I wasn't sure why I was talking to myself. I didn't feel like calling Erato out, though. I just wanted to be alone for a while.

I lay back on the ground and closed my eyes. It was getting chilly, and I didn't have a jacket, but I hardly noticed. I tried to clear my mind with a couple of deep breaths. It really didn't work.

My eyes snapped open when I felt someone kick my leg.

"What the–wow!" I caught a glimpse of a dude wearing a rain coat fall in front of me. He hit the ground with a thud, and I snatched my feet back, rubbing the spot where I'd been kicked.

"Dude, watch where you're going," I said. I watched the dude sit up and turn towards me, and I recognized the face immediately. "Yoh? What the heck are you doing here?"

"I live on the other side of this field," Yoh said, and his voice sounded pained. "What are you doing here, Garie?"

"I'm…" I looked for a good excuse for lying in the middle of a field. "I'm just…star gazing."

Yoh looked up at the cloudy sky, then back down at me, but he smiled anyway. "Well okay then." He stood up and dusted himself off. "Have fun."

"Where're you off to?" I asked before he parted.

Yoh scratched his head sheepishly. "I'm kind of going to apologize to Marco."

"Marco?" I searched through my mind for the familiar name. "Oh, he's the X-law dude with the glasses, right? Why do you need to apologize to him?"

"I rejoined the tournament, even though I had to drop out to save Ren."

"Why are you rejoining?" I asked. "Did Anna threaten to kill you if you didn't?"

"Not only that," Yoh said. "But Hao also wants me back in."

"Hao does? Why?" I stood up.

"I'm not so sure," Yoh admitted. "But he threatened to hurt the Munzer children if I didn't."

"The what children?"

"It's a long story," Yoh backed away, shaking his head. "Anyway, I'm going to try to settle this whole deal before anyone else gets hurt. Have a good one, Garie."

I waved as he ran off, suddenly feeling an insane sense of loneliness. Once again, my mind played over my meeting with Goldva, and I had the horrible feeling that I might not see Yoh or any of the other guys again.

"Crap," I sighed with frustration. I looked up at the sky. "Great Spirit! Why is it such a pain to be a priestess?"

As I thought, there was no reply from anyone. Not that I expected any. I shivered a little as a cold breeze flew by me and began to walk away from the dark field. The rain started. Thunder sounded far behind me. I wished I'd brought a jacket.

I walked for a very long time, until I was soaking wet. I kept walking. Just like that first day in the Patch village, I walked with my eyes forward, seeing nothing, feeling nothing. Nothing existed.

Fields changed into thick forests. I walked and walked until my feet felt like they were about to fall off. I leaned back against a tree and took a deep breath. If I continued, I might not ever find my way back. _So be it, _a voice in my mind whispered to me. _Keep walking. It'll all be okay. Just go on._

I did as the voice told me and kept walking. I don't know if it was my tired, confused mind playing tricks on me, or if what I saw was real, but suddenly there was a building in front of me. It resembled the house I was living in, but it wasn't. This one was…darker, almost eerie in a way, like something bad was within, warning every passerby to run away. Too bad I'm too much of an idiot to trust my own instincts.

I walked up to the building. I wondered if I should knock. I wondered why I even wanted to go inside in the first place. I admit, it isn't unlikely for me to do things on impulse, but even this was going to an extreme. There were lights in the windows, so obviously there was someone there. Why the hell was I so…attracted to this place?

I stared at the stone building quietly for a while, my eyes blurring over, and not just from the rain. I tasted salt, so I turned my face up towards the falling rain, and let my tears be cleansed. I didn't know why I was crying. I didn't know why I was doing anything.

I was two seconds from turning around, when I heard someone's voice.

"Ah, so you came after all, Garie."

I jumped and looked around. There was no one there.

"Where the hell are you, Hao?" I said, grabbing my ukulele.

A familiar laugh sounded somewhere above me, and suddenly, a figure dropped down in front of me. As an impulse, I backed away, but the figure didn't move towards me.

"I'm glad to see you, Garie." Hao said, and I could tell he was smiling. "I've been trying to get you here for a while now."

"What's this about, Hao?" I asked, not letting my guard down. "How did you know I was coming here?"

"I know a lot of things. I knew that you wouldn't be able to stay away for long." Hao responded. "You hardly seem like the type to wander around aimlessly without a purpose."

"You'd be surprised." I muttered. "So, what's going on?"

Hao looked up at the sky just as another bit of thunder sounded. He looked back down at me. "Come inside with me. We'll discuss it in there."

I didn't budge. I stood in the rain with my arms crossed over my chest. "How do I know you're not just setting me up to walk into some sort of death trap?"

"Because if I wanted to kill you, I'd do it." Hao replied calmly. "Which will happen if you don't get out of the rain soon."

After a split-second decision, I chose to risk it and followed him into the large building. The inside of the building really surprised me. It was very bright and so warm that I was sweating in a couple of minutes. Hao noticed my discomfort.

"I hate the cold," he explained as he led me into a large room. It was littered with couches and chairs. It was almost creepy how homey this place was, considering whom it was who lived here. Hao sat himself down at a large chair and gestured to one across from him. I sat tentatively, not wishing to get too comfortable in this place.

When Hao didn't say anything immediately, I began to feel even more uncomfortable. All he did was watch me thoughtfully, which could suggest a lot of things. This was just getting too weird. I had to think of something that would end this silence.

Before I could even open my mouth, though, he beat me to it.

"You're wondering why my companions are killing so many people." Look at the punctuation. This wasn't a question. He knew exactly what I was about to ask him.

My eyes narrowed. "You're weird. It's like the moment I'm about to say anything, you know exactly what it is." When he didn't reply to my comment, I decided to drop it. "Yes, I'm wondering what the hell is driving you to attack those other shamans. You could probably beat them all fair and square in a shaman fight. Why the hell do you guys have to kill?"

At these questions, Hao laughed openly. "These shamans are just weaklings who try to get in my way. I hate distractions."

"So you're just going to kill anyone who questions you?"

"Well, I haven't killed you yet." Hao said, with a glint in his eye. "Then again, I do have a use for you, so killing you would just be a waste."

I started when he said this. "What the hell makes you think that I'd ever help you?"

"Don't try to act tough, Garie." Hao said calmly. "I'm stronger than you'll ever be, so try not to argue with me."

"I'm not joining you Hao." I said, standing up. "You can kill me if you want. There's no way in hell that I'd ever leave my tribe to join the likes of you." I turned and made my way to the door.

"You can fight all you want, Garie June." Hao said, not having moved from his spot. "But remember, if you defy me, it won't just be you who gets hurt. Don't you care at all about your family?"

I stopped immediately, standing in the threshold of the room. I knew that he knew he had me, and I suddenly felt so weak that I might have fallen to the floor if I hadn't leaned against the wall. I turned back to face the boy who still sat calmly in his chair, watching me with amusement.

"Of course, I'd be wasting my time threatening your family." Hao continued casually. "Seeing as they're all completely human. Even your mother, a Patch woman, doesn't have enough furyoku to call herself a shaman. And your father just happens to be able to see spirits. You're the only one that interests me." A thin smile curled his lips. "Of all your siblings, you're the only one strong enough to control spirits. That should make your mother proud, shouldn't it? But it doesn't." His smile widened. "All your mother does is doubt you. She treats you like a freak. She doesn't understand what it's like to be a shaman."

"You don't know my mom." I said defiantly. "She loves me for who I am, even if I'm different."

"Then why did she abandon you like that?" Hao asked. My hands balled into fists. "She never allowed you to train to become a shaman. She was afraid of what you could do, so she left you with your uncle. Really all she did was throw you into more trouble. I doubt she cares about your welfare."

"Okay, shut the hell up!" I yelled at him, and I was surprised at how angry I was. "You don't understand a thing about me. Maybe if you weren't such a heartless bastard, you'd understand. But you don't even know how to love! You don't give a damn about anyone, even your companions who'd probably lay down their lives for you, or your own sister, who'll probably never forgive you for what you did to Ren. She loves you, and you repay that love by hurting her? And Jordin too. I've never seen anyone so hopeless in my life. She trusted you, maybe even loved you, and all you did was turn her away. You don't know a thing about love."

Hao watched me silently as I let my anger out of him. I took a deep breath when I'd finally run out of words, and realized how stupid that had been. Lashing out at a powerful shaman? What the hell was I thinking? I would be dead in less than ten seconds. I watched with growing fear as Hao stood from his seat and walked toward me, his eyes narrowed. An angry look shrowded his gorgeous face.

"Love," he spat the word out as if it tasted like vile. "Love is nothing but a death trap. Love is a stupid emotion. It's a temporary thing set up to let people feel happy one second, then spend the rest of their lives in sorrow. Love doesn't last, no matter how much one tries. It's a stupid word that people throw around to describe petty attractions." By now, he was standing so close that I could feel his hot breath on my face. "Love is what leads to hate. Anyone who falls in its clutches comes out a broken man. Love is a weakness."

"No," I said calmly. I stared straight into this shaman's cold eyes. I saw the anger that he was now expressing, but looking deeper, I saw something else. I held his gaze steadily. "Love takes strength. If you aren't strong enough to love, then you'll never be strong enough to be the shaman king." The words that left my mouth surprised me. It was as if someone were speaking through me, someone far away, watching over me. These were not my words, but I said them with so much strength, that I believed them to the core.

I noticed right away that the room was growing brighter and hotter. Beads of sweat rolled down my face, and I began to realize how truly dumb I was for following Hao into this forsaken place. If I were smarter, I would've turned around and denied speaking to him ever again. But then again, he needed to hear these words. He needed to learn what he was doing. As the room got hotter and hotter, though, I realized that maybe my words weren't enough. Maybe he needed someone else to explain this to him. Someone he'd never dare to hurt. That was definitely not me.

Hao's eyes were flashing dangerously, and I knew that it wouldn't be long before my last moments. I had to find a way to survive this, but I had no idea how to get through this dude. I barely knew him, and I'd lashed out at him like an idiot. No one was saving me from this one. Damn, I'm stupid.

"Look," I said, knowing that anything I said would be useless, but it's not like I had anything to lose but my life at this point. "I know you're pissed off, but you asked for it." I wanted to fan myself with something. Extreme heat is very uncomfortable. "You're a thousand years old, Hao, and you still need some loud-mouthed girl to explain to you what the hell it means to be human."

"I'm not human." Hao said, causing another wave of heat. I tried my best to keep myself from passing out.

"No, you can't even call yourself that anymore." I said. "I don't know what you are, Hao, but you aren't human, and you're hardly a shaman. You're becoming something else, something worse, and if you don't stop now, you'll be completely consumed. Nothing will be left of you." Before he could reply, I continued. "I'm leaving for the continent of Mu in less than a week. I've been given a mission by the Great Spirit. If you kill me now, the Great Spirit won't be happy. That's what you originally wanted to talk about, right? You knew I had something on my mind. I don't have to join you for you to know what the Patch is planning. You already seem to be up to speed with everything that's going on, although I don't know how."

Hao's expression didn't change, but I did feel the heat recede just a little. "Of course I know," Hao said. "I have no way of knowing what the Great Spirit plans for you, but I do know what the Patch is doing. They think your loyalty towards the Great Spirit is wavering."

"Well, that's a given." I said, glad that the heat was lessening. "So, that means you know exactly what the mission is about."

"Yes," Hao responded. "And I also know what is happening to your uncle. Do you think it's smart for you to leave him in the hands of those priests?"

"I don't know what's smart and what isn't anymore." I admitted. "All I know is that I'm completing this mission. I'm sick of everyone questioning my loyalty. I follow the Great Spirit, and I always will."

By now, the room's temperature was the same as it had been when I first got here. Hao watched me silently for a second, and I was glad to see that his expression wasn't as hard as it was a couple of seconds ago.

"Perhaps I can serve you with a warning, then." Hao said.

"A warning?"

Hao nodded. "The Patch have a way of dealing with certain things. Your uncle tried to steal the remaining nature spirits." He paused. "There are five great nature spirits, Garie. One of them, the spirit of fire, was stolen 500 years ago by me." He smiled at my surprised expression. "The other four still remain in the Patch's possession."

"Why did Silva try to steal them?" I asked.

"That's for you to find out," Hao replied. "You should know that there are plenty of organizations out there seeking to destroy me. The X-laws are only one of them. Tell me, why do you think the Patch would want you out of the way in a continent miles below the surface?"

"They think I might try to do the same thing that Silva did." I answered, because I'd actually been thinking about that for a while. "They don't trust me."

"Ah, they don't. It may be because of your record of doing things quite irrationally, or maybe it's because you're not a full-blooded Patch." That glint returned to his eyes. "Or, maybe, it's because you're descended from me. Any of those scenarios would have the Patch priests questioning your loyalty."

"Ugh," I crossed my arms over my chest, overwhelmed. "So, basically, they're getting rid of me. What the hell?" I left my spot leaning against the wall and began to pace around the room. "And what's up with this mission anyway? Goldva didn't even tell me what the hell I had to do. 'Go to the continent of Mu,' he says. 'You'll know what to do when you get there.' What a joke. And I'm supposed to keep my mouth shut about the whole thing?"

"The contestants aren't allowed to know about the continent." Hao said casually as he sat down at the chair again. It was strange how quickly his mood changed from wanting to kill me to this. "Only the final teams are allowed to go there, and only the winner is allowed to pass through safely. It's very hard to find your way through without the guidance of a true Patch."

"But I'm not a true Patch." I said, feeling true despair.

"Well, that's certainly a positive attitude." Hao laughed.

I turned to glare at him. "You made me come here for a reason Hao. You already know about the mission, so what use am I to you?"

Hao observed me quietly for a couple of seconds. "My brother almost dropped out of the shaman fight to save his friend. Luckily, I've convinced him to return."

"By threatening some kids, right?" I said, remembering what Yoh had told me earlier.

Hao smiled. "Yes." He stood up and walked towards me. "I want you to give him a message from me."

"A message? Is that what this is about?" I crossed my arms over my chest. "Well, I feel cheated."

Hao laughed darkly as he reached out and trapped my chin, leaning down to whisper something into my ear.

* * *

**Curious? Wow, this is took a while. I've been trying to write this all week, but I've been so busy! I've been putting all of my energy into this show I'm in. In this past week, I've been bathed in glitter, kicked in the nose by my best friend (accidentally, of course) and almost killed myself with seven second costume changes. All of this just serves to remind me how much I truly love theater!**


	12. A beautiful mess

10

**I LOVE THIS CHAPTER! Please read. I'm excited about this.**

* * *

"Where're you off to, Garie?" Gabe asked, sitting on the kitchen table, munching on a bowl of cereal.

I froze at the doorway, not having realized that he was there. It was early morning, and I thought everybody was still asleep. I'd come home late last night after my…encounter with Hao, so I really hadn't seen any of the other apprentices. Now, I'd been trying to get out without having anyone see me. Too late.

"I'm…taking care of some business." I replied not making eye-contact with the older apprentice. He looked at me like he didn't believe me.

"What sort of business?" Gabe asked, as if playing dumb. He shoved another spoonful of cereal into his mouth and chewed, waiting for my answer.

"It's just…I um…" I couldn't think of a thing. Why the hell had I stopped? I could've just walked by and ignored him. But, no. Of course I couldn't do that, not to Gabe, at the very least. Tim, maybe. But not Gabe. He was too sweet for me to ignore him.

When I couldn't think of anything, Gabe asked, "Does it have anything to do with the mission you were given?"

I started slightly. "How do you know about that?"

"We all know," Gabe responded. "Sorry, babe, but you can't keep secrets in this house. It just doesn't work that way."

I almost jumped out of my skin when he said that. I know he was probably joking, but fear started to settle over me. How much did the other apprentices know? Did they know about last night? Oh god…this could not be good.

"So, the continent of Mu," Gabe tipped his bowl into his mouth and drank the loose milk. "That's pretty awesome. The Great Spirit doesn't always give such important tasks to apprentices. Are you scared?"

I shrugged, hoping that my anxiety wasn't obvious. "I don't know. I guess." I fidgeted with the hem of my shirt. "I wish I didn't have to do this on my own. I'm just scared that something bad will happen, and I won't be able to prevent it."

"You don't have to worry about that." Gabe assured me, and I found it strange how sure he sounded. "You're only an apprentice, and you haven't been here too long. Goldva's not about to give you some impossible task that'll surely kill you or anything like that." Then he smiled brightly. "And if you really feel insecure about going alone, ask Goldva if you can take one of us with you. You know any of us would be thrilled to see the lost continent for ourselves."

"Yeah, you're right," I said, feeling slightly more hopeful. "Maybe it'll be easier if I have an actual Patch with me."

Gabe's expression changed into one of surprise. "An actual Patch?"

"Yeah," I said. "I mean, I'm not technically a Patch. I've only been here for a short time, unlike you guys, who were raised in the village."

At this, Gabe laughed, which surprised me. "Garie, what are you saying? You are an actual Patch. There's no way in hell that you'd be a priestess if you weren't. Who told you something so ridiculous?"

I stood there, feeling almost ashamed of myself for calling myself a half-Patch. I hadn't considered my being a priestess. "I guess I'm letting Nichrom get to me."

"Him again?" Gabe stood up and came towards me. He put his hands on my shoulders. "Baby, listen to me, okay? You can't believe everything that people tell you, especially mean dudes who try to kill you."

"But what if he's right?" I couldn't help but ask. "I mean, I get that I'm a priestess. I know that should mean something, but…the way Nichrom talks about me, about family, it's like I should be ashamed to have human parents."

"Nichrom doesn't know a thing." Gabe said firmly. "The only thing he knows is anger, and hatred. He's a lost kid, and you're a strong priestess. It doesn't matter if your parents are human or whatever. That doesn't define who you are. You do."

I couldn't believe that I was getting teary-eyed because of this. My throat hurt as I tried to hold back a sob. I looked up at Gabe's soft eyes. Before I could break down, though, I took a step back.

"I have to get going." I said, though my voice shook. "I might be home later."

Before Gabe could stop me, I ran out the door, walking deeply into the forest. When I knew there was enough distance between me and the house, I fell back against a tree and cried freely.

One minute. That's the longest I allowed myself. When the minute was over, I stood up, wiped off my tears, and kept walking. I couldn't cry anymore. I couldn't allow myself to continue this. I had to have strength.

With that in mind, I walked quickly and with a purpose. I walked past the forest, past the arena, past the coffee shop, until I came to the field I'd found last night. Yoh had mentioned that he lived on the other side of the field. I walked as fast as I could, not daring to stop long enough for me to really think about what I was doing.

I was surprised to see Yoh's house. It wasn't a stone building, like mine or Hao's. It was an actual Japanese-style house with a garden and a clothes line and everything. It seemed large enough to hold a large amount of people. It had a very homey atmosphere to it. I looked past this and walked up to the door.

I was about to knock, but I suddenly heard a huge crash from the inside. I paused and listened. There was the sound of yelling voices, followed by more crashes. I stood there for a second, wondering if it was a bad time.

Then again, I had to deliver this message, so I opened the door and stepped inside. I followed the sound of yelling down the hall and to a large room. I peeked in, not sure if I should make my presence known yet, and was very much surprised by what I saw.

As I'd expected, Yoh was in there, along with the other teams and people on his side, all of them yelling and fighting. I saw two girls I hadn't seen before, one with blue hair, and I was sure she was related to Horo Horo, and another with pinkish hair. _Who're they?_ I thought vaguely.

But something else took my mind off of the two strange girls. I caught a glimpse of long silver hair and an old-fashioned dress, and realized that the little murder princess was in there as well, so I wasn't surprised to see Marco and Lyserg trying to protect her from the flying plates and food. Also, Opacho was there, which was weird. What happened to her being Hao's teammate? And who was the tall dude all dressed in black with a goatee? Something was definitely wrong.

I saw Anna standing in a corner, her face set in more than her usual annoyed glare, a bowl of rice in one hand, and chopsticks in the other. She was glaring at the scene before her with obvious distaste.

"Hey you!" I jumped, thinking that she was talking to me, but then I realized that she was talking to Yoh, who lay sprawled on the floor. He responded with something that sounded like "Ugh."

"Don't you have a speech to do?" She asked the boy harshly. "I don't care to listen to a story full of details…"

"Alright," Yoh interrupted his fiancée. "Well, I wanted everyone to listen." When he got no real reply from his arguing companions, his voice got louder. "I'll talk about important matters. Well, today we're going to have to summit."

The response was almost instantaneous. Everyone froze, and it was as if they all turned into statues. Silence filled the room, and I was afraid that some of them might faint from shock.

"But first I have to tell you," Yoh continued. "The winner of the Shaman Fight will be Hao." When all he got was shocked looks, he went on. "You'll realize it too…He has a furyoku of 1,250,000. As long as we fight following the rules we won't stand a chance."

To this, Ren was the first to really react. "That's impossible! Then why are we still fighting? Are you telling me you're going to quit again?"

I listened eagerly. Could this be real? Were they giving up already? _No, _I thought desperately. _If Hao becomes the Shaman King he'll destroy everything! This can't happen! _I clenched my fists, trying to keep myself from lashing out. This was the second time in two days that I'd been eavesdropping on something important. I couldn't risk being found out. Well, not yet.

"Listen to me," Yoh said suddenly, causing the crowd to fall silent again. "This is information Hao left for the future Asakuras. This has been confirmed by Silva too, so it's real." I started when he mentioned my uncle, causing me to listen more intently. "The shaman who wins the tournament will have to assimilate with the Great Spirit. He will have to fall in an eternal sleep after the rite of the baptism. That's when we'll attack him."

"You're kidding me, right?" I couldn't hold back anymore. I entered the room, choosing to ignore all the strange looks I was getting. "That can't work."

Yoh blinked at me, thoroughly surprised to see me. "Garie, why are you here?"

"And why didn't you knock?" Anna asked, more angry than surprised. "We have a doorbell for a reason."

"Sorry, but this is urgent." I said, and I hoped that she wouldn't attack me. "What the hell makes you think that a surprise attack will work on someone like Hao?"

"She has a point." Horo Horo said suddenly. "And isn't that a dishonorable move?"

"Not at all," the dude in the black suddenly spoke up. "Because I'm here as your enemy. In fact, Hao-sama already knows. This is typical of the Shaman Fight. It has happened many times in the past. It is normal for some people to not accept the new king. But it's not easy at all. Right, priestess?"

Everyone's attention was on me again. "It's a death trap."

"Care to explain?" Jordin asked.

"The Shaman King will be protected by all of the Patch priests and apprentices. You'd have to fight your way past us. That's our true task." I glanced at the dude in the black and at Opacho. "Not to mention Hao's followers, who may or may not be worse than the Patch, will be there to prevent anything from happening."

"I'm still here!" Opacho yelled in her shrill voice, looking ready to attack anyone who came near her.

"Well said, priestess." The dude said with a cool smile.

"Impossible," Lyserg suddenly spoke up. "If this event has been happening from the beginning why do we even have matches? And if the Shaman Fight is used to elect a new king, why are there people trying to overthrow him?"

"Not everyone is allowed to go to that place," Anna responded. "Only a selected few can go there. Those will be the twelve shamans in the semi-finals." She glanced at me. "You're going to there, aren't you Garie?"

"The Great Spirit has given me a mission." I said while I wondered how word of this had gotten around so quickly. "Soon, the four teams will become clear. The first rounds are already finished."

"Ah," Anna agreed. "And two of the winning teams are part of the Gandhara, the third power. They're one of the most powerful groups in the Shaman Fight." She glanced at Ren. "Team the Ren, you have a fight against Team Myooh today. They're part of Gandhara."

Ren didn't respond immediately, and his response wasn't to Anna, it was to me. "Don't you have something to say, priestess?"

I blinked before realizing that he was right. "Oh, I have a message from Hao."

Around the room, everyone stiffened.

"How can you say that so casually?" Sam asked. "And when did you even start speaking to Hao?"

"Right around the same time I started speaking to you guys." I responded coolly. "I told you, I don't take sides."

"Sure as hell doesn't seem that way." Horo Horo responded. "Are you Hao's companion now, then?"

"Are you soft in the head?" I asked him in a harsh tone. "I just said I don't take sides. I'm just delivering a message. And I probably wouldn't even deliver it if it weren't for what happened at his house last night."

"Wow," Jordin held up her hand. "Stop right there. What the hell were you doing at his house?"  
"You weren't making out with him or anything, were you?" Sam asked.

"Ew, no! Will you let me finish?" I asked. "I went to his house because I was totally lost, and he threatened me. Then he was all talking about some stupid thing or another, and then we started arguing, and then we weren't arguing anymore, and then he passed me a message."

"And you actually came out of that alive?" Chocolove asked in amazement.

"That doesn't give a whole lot of detail." Jordin said with a frown. "What were you arguing about?"

"That's…personal." I responded sheepishly.

"Oh, you were totally making out with him." Sam said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"What was the message?" May spoke up, and I almost thanked her for getting the attention off of awkward thoughts. I noticed that she didn't look mad to see me at all. She did look slightly annoyed, which was a strange look for someone who usually so composed.

"He says he knows about Yoh's plan, like this dude told you already." I gestured towards the dude in the black. "And he wants you to know that you can try all you want, but all of you will ultimately fail. That's exactly what he told me, word for word. Oh, and he said something weird about you not being strong enough yet, Yoh, but I figure you probably know about that already." I turned to Jordin and Sam. "Nothing went on besides that. I quite honestly can't stand Hao, and I would _never _make out with him, got that?"

"Just checking." Sam said with a smile. "Because, you know, if it were me…"

"That's enough, Sam." Jordin said.

"Hey, I'm just saying, Hao may be a hard-ass, but he is a one _fine_ hard-ass." Sam said with a dreamy look.

"I'm so close to strangling you." Jordin responded, almost outdoing Anna's annoyed look.

"Yes, you should not speak of such inappropriate things in the Lady Jeanne's presence." Marco suddenly said with obvious disapproval. "You're corrupting her innocence."

"It's quite alright, Marco." Jeanne said, and I was surprised by how soft and sweet her voice was, and how proper. She was certainly dignified for her age. I don't ever remember being that way when I was eleven or twelve, but then again, I wasn't raised by religious freaks that told me sin was punishable by death. "Everyone deserves a chance to speak their mind."

This sufficed to silence Marco. I didn't miss the hateful looks that Sam threw them, or the rage and hurt that shone brightly in Jordin's eyes. Obviously, Jordin hadn't forgotten what the X-laws had done to her, and it didn't seem like Sam was on their side either.

In the midst of all this, Yoh was standing in his corner, thinking. He looked at me finally. "Thanks for passing the message, Garie."

"Yeah, that's the last time I act as a messenger." I said. "Hao is on a whole other level of weirdness. Unless you count this group, of course."

"Well, I'd invite you to eat with us, but, um…" Yoh glanced sheepishly around the destroyed dining room, where plates and bits of food lay scattered along the broken wooden table, which I chose not to ask about.

"That's alright," I said, glancing around. "I have to go train anyway. I'll see you guys around."

"Wait Garie," Horo Horo called after me. I looked at him. "You said you were leaving? Where are you going?"

I looked at him for a second. It was strange the sense of endearment I had for this guy. He was certainly not the brightest crayon in the box, but he was a nice guy. Hadn't we met just about a week ago? How had we been friends, then gotten torn apart so quickly? Things were moving so fast.

Then again, this was the Shaman Fight, and I had no time to get caught up in relationships. Everyone I'd met so far was just a small part of this.

"Special Patch business." I said simply. "Top secret. Unless you're Hao, of course."

"How come Hao knows?" Horo Horo asked, obviously annoyed that he was the one out of the circle.

I shrugged. "What can I say? It slipped out."

"Are you _sure _nothing happened last night?" Sam asked with a smirk.

"No Sam, I was drunk and stoned out of my mind. I have no idea what happened." I said, rolling my eyes at her. I left the house, hoping that they hadn't taken me seriously. Soon, I was past the fields and was once again in the forest, heading towards town. It was a very hot day, and I was glad to be wearing shorts and a tank top. As I walked, I pulled my hair back into a tight ponytail, letting sunlight hit my shoulders and back.

The cool breeze brushed past me, and I breathed in deeply. The cool air cleared my head, and I suddenly felt calmer than I had in a while. I knew everything was falling apart slowly, but at the same time a small, almost invisible sense of hope was beginning to push its way through in me.

I knew that Yoh had faith in his plan. There was technically nothing stopping him from trying the plan out. The only thing that really mattered was carrying it out, and the worst part was that I couldn't help him. I would be with the Patch, protecting the Shaman King until my death. I'd probably end up fighting with Yoh, if that's what it took to do my job. I wouldn't care too much, though. If I lose, I lose, and he goes on. I had nothing against him getting past me. I did have something against him getting in the Great Spirit's way.

"Hey, Sullivan!" I suddenly heard behind me. I looked to see Tim running towards me, a large smile covering his face. He was wearing nothing but a pair of black swim trunks and black sandals. I was struck by how well-toned and tanned his chest was.

"What's up, Tim?" I asked, trying to focus more on him that his features.

"I'm heading down to the beach." Tim said. "Wanna come?"

I was about to deny him. I had training to get done. I had no idea what sort of threats this mission of mine would present to me. I had to be prepared. But then something struck me. I was leaving soon, very soon. Who knew how long I was going to be gone? Thinking of being away from Tim and the other apprentices sent a wave of insecurity through me.

Couldn't I risk not training for once? Just for a little while, at least.

"Sure, why not?"

Tim flashed me his thousand-watt smile, and my knees almost gave out beneath me. He led me down to the beach, and I realized that it was the same place where we'd landed when we came here. I remembered coming out of the helicopter. I remembered how excited and scared I'd been from all of these new experiences, and how nervous I was to please Goldva and the other Patch guys. Only a few days had passed since then, but it felt as If I'd grown beyond my years since then. Well, that's what I thought, at least.

The beach was mostly empty, save for a couple of joggers. I watched as Tim ran into the water, his sandals flying off and landing in the sand. After a gigantic splash, he came up, flipping his hair out of his face.

"Come on, Sullivan! Let's go!" He yelled at me.

I looked down at my shorts and tank top. "Um, I think I'll wait for you out here." I yelled at him from the edge of the water. "I'm not really in the right attire for swimming."

"That's no excuse." Tim said. He made his way back onto the sand, and before I knew it, he was chasing me. I ran as fast as I could to get away from him, but he still managed to grab me. He lifted me easily, as if I weighed no more than a couple of ounces, and swung me over his shoulder. My kicks and screams had no effect on him, and he tossed me into the ocean, letting the cool, salty water cover me and pull me down. I came up, gasping for air.

"Dammit, Tim!" I yelled, noticing that I was still wearing one of my flip flops. The other was nowhere to be seen. I swam back to the edge, where I sat on the sand and yanked off my remaining shoe, throwing it somewhere behind me. My shirt clung to my skin and I was sure it looked awful. The only thing I was glad about was that I'd had the sense to put my ukulele down by a nearby palm tree. Tim crouched near me.

"Sorry, it just had to be done." He said with his usual smile. I splashed some water at him and we began a water fight, tackling each other and seeing who could make it out alive. I soon came to learn that though I was quite apt in karate, Tim seemed to have some wrestling in his background as well, because he knocked me down plenty of times. I was persistent, though. Every time he pushed me down, I was able to do the same. Soon, both of us were on the ground, soaking wet, and breathing hard.

Tim turned to me, his smile unwavering despite how tired he seemed.

"You put up quite a fight, Garie." Tim said breathlessly.

"So do you." I replied, sitting up. My clothes were wet and caked with sand, and my hair was probably a mess. Strangely, though, I really didn't feel embarrassed. I smiled at Tim. "I'm actually having fun."

"I hope it's helping you get your mind off things." Tim commented, sitting up as well. "You've been super stressed lately."

"It's just because all of this shit going on." I said with a shrug. "The fight, the mission, my uncle, everything is just…jumbled up. I always feel like I should be doing something about all of this, but I don't know what to do."

Tim looked at me with a soft expression. "You want my advice?"

"I don't know." I replied cautiously. "Do I?"

"You need to let things go." Tim said instead of answering. "The trick is to just let the chips fall where they may. Believe me, worrying about things only helps to make things worse."

I stayed silent for a second, just staring into Tim's onyx eyes. I wondered how it was possible for anyone to have such beautiful eyes. I looked down at my hands. "You're right, no duh. But how the hell can I do that so easily?"

"If you want, we can talk about something else." Tim suggested. "That's always a start."

"Okay," I said, all for it. "Well, then, what do you want to talk about?"

"Tell me about yourself." Tim said, smiling again.

"About me?" I asked, surprised. "What do you want to know?"

Tim shrugged. "Anything."

"Well," I said, really at a loss. "I was born in Mexico, I moved to Albuquerque when I was nine, and I still live there now. I have a bunch of siblings and my parents are both musicians."

"Well, that's vague." Tim said with a laugh.

I laughed. "I just don't know what to say." I looked at him. "What about you? What can you tell me about yourself?"

"Well," Tim leaned back on his elbows, a placid smile on his face. "I was born in the Patch village, where I've lived all my life. I have three brothers, all of whom are younger than me, and two sisters, one who's older than me and is majoring in psychology at Harvard, the other who is six years old and the youngest out of all of us."

"Damn," I said with an appreciative air. "So I'm not the only one with a huge family. And your parents?"

"Still the happiest couple I know." Tim replied. "Dad's a shaman, a strong one, but too old to be a priest, so he helps on the sidelines. Mom's a healer in the village. We own a small apothecary in the center of the village."

As I listened to him, I couldn't stop a smile from forming on my face, though I wasn't even sure why I was smiling. I guess it was because I hadn't really known Tim before today, before this talk. It felt good to be just a little closer to him.

"So you're parents are musicians." Tim said as a sort of casual comment. "I guess that explains why you're always carrying a ukulele around."

"Well, yeah," I said with a shrug. "Music's a big part of my family. Most of us have some sort of musical influence, and mine is singing and ukulele playing."

"Sweet." Tim said. Suddenly, he sat back up. "So, you still owe me for our little bet the other day."

"Oh," I replied wearily. "I totally forgot about that."

"Well, it's time for you to remember, Garie June, because I know what I want." Tim said with his playful smile.

"You said that days ago, and you still didn't tell me what you wanted." I said. "How do I know that this is the real thing?"

"Because I know exactly what I want this time." Tim replied. "And it's a good one."

I rolled my eyes. "Well then go ahead. Shoot."

Tim's look made me a thousand times more scared for what he wanted me to do. Maybe he was going to have me be his servant for the rest of the Shaman Fight, or maybe he'd torture me more by having me eat sand. A shiver ran down my spine as I thought of the possibilities.

"I want you to take me to the lost continent." He said plainly.

I was slightly taken aback by that request. "Um, that's it?" I asked, very much surprised. "No lifelong servitude? No cruel and unusual punishment?"

Tim shrugged. "Well, I did have something else in mind at first, but since I heard you were getting a mission down in Mu, I figured I might as well tag along."

I looked at him for a second. "You're totally lying. What did you really want out of this deal, Timothy?"

He looked at me, and though he was smiling, his eyes bore deeply into mine with a sort of intensity. "A date."

My eyes widened at how unexpected, and strangely fitting his answer was. I was so shocked that all I managed to say was: "Uh…"

"But now I realize that you'd probably go on a date with me even if I hadn't won that bet." Tim observed.

I tried to ignore the fluttering going on in my chest. "You'd seriously ask me on a date?"

Tim laughed. "Technically we're already on a date, since you agreed to come down here with me."

"Oh crap, you're right." I realized this a little too late. Well, isn't that what a date was anyway? Two people having fun together in some sort of random setting, sharing things about each other. Yup, that's a date right there. "So," I said, looking back at Tim. "What do we do now?"

Tim smiled. "I could kiss you."

I nodded, smiling back. "Yeah, that seems fitting."

I hardly had time to breathe before Tim's lips were on mine. I suppose the best way for me to describe it was an unimaginable feeling of happiness washing over me. My heart fluttered, and my head spun, but I paid no attention to that. All I could feel was Tim's lips against mine, and the wonderful feeling that my heart was melting.

When the kiss ended, I looked at Tim, most likely smiling like a fool. "So, is this an official date?"

"I think it's safe to say so." Tim confirmed.

I sincerely hoped my cheeks weren't as red as they felt. "So, what do you want to do now?"

"I say we head back home and get some food. I'm starving." Tim replied.

"Oh yes, please." I said. "I don't think I ate at all today."

Tim laughed, hauling himself up and pulling me up after. My cheeks were probably still very red, which I found to be really embarrassing. Eventually we were able to locate my flip flops, and I grabbed my ukulele. Our clothes were still pretty wet, but we figured a walk in the hot sun would probably help dry us off a little.

I liked that we were still talking so casually to each other despite the fact that he was holding my hand. It was fun trying to find our way home from the beach. It proved to be a lot harder than I thought. It turned out that neither of us remembered the way to the house from the beach.

"Here, maybe Erato can help." I said. I called to my spirit and waited. A couple of seconds passed and she didn't appear. My eyes narrowed. "That's weird." I muttered, taking my memory tablet where Erato stayed out of my shorts pocket. "Erato? You there?" I shook it a little, only because she really hates it when I do that, but nothing happened. "Where is she?"

"Maybe she decided to take the day off." Tim responded with his usual carefree smile. "I wouldn't blame her for wanting to give you some privacy."

"But it isn't like her to just leave." I pocketed the tablet. "Where could she have gone?"

Tim shrugged. "Don't worry, she'll be back." He took out his own tablet. "For now, I'll have Kitty help us with directions."

When he said 'Kitty', I half expected to see a cat appear before me. You can imagine my surprise when a gigantic grizzly bear appeared in front of us. I looked at the bear and back at Tim.

"Your bear's name is Kitty?" I asked.

Tim smiled sheepishly. "Well, he does have a real name, but I was five when my dad gave him to me, and I couldn't pronounce his name, so I called him Kitty. It kind of stuck."

I laughed at this, petting Kitty's head. The bear nuzzled his head into my palm, and I smiled happily. "What a sweetheart."

"Yeah, but you should see him when he's mad." Tim said. "He'd tear you apart if he had the chance." He addressed Kitty. "See if you can help us find our way." At his command, Kitty stood on his back legs. I was struck by how large he was in comparison to us. The bear sniffed the air around him, then he fell back onto all fours with a _thump_. He started walking through the forest, and Tim and I followed.

The bear proved to be effective, because we soon found our way through the dark thicket. When we found the house, I followed Tim inside and closed the door behind me. We found Gabe and Mariah eating lunch in the dining room.

"Hey, where have you guys been?" Gabe asked when we stepped inside.

"And why are you wet?" Mariah spoke through a mouth full of taco.

"We were at the beach." Tim responded, already making himself a taco. "It was a nice day out."

"Did you get all of your business done, Garie?" Gabe asked, looking at me with knowing eyes.

"Uh, yeah, I did." I responded vaguely as I sat down, even though I was soaking wet. I ignored that fact and began to prepare myself some dinner. The smell of ground beef was making my stomach growl.

Throughout the meal, I did my best to keep my eyes off of Tim. I did this because every time I did happen to look at him, it would take me a really long time to look away. Whenever he caught me looking, though, he'd smile as always, and I'd look away, blushing. I wondered if the others noticed this about us. I thought of what they might say if they knew about our date. How long would it be before the truth came out?

"Did you watch Tao Ren's fight today?" Gabe asked Mariah after a while.

"I did," Mariah said excitedly. "Wasn't that amazing? Horo Horo is a lot stronger than he seems."

"Why?" I asked, intrigued. "What happened."

"They fought this Buddhist team." Mariah explained. "And Ren and Chocolove were brought down pretty quickly."

"But not before Ren showed his new oversoul." Gabe cut in. "Man, that thing was scary."

"Yeah, who knew that guy could handle lightning like that?" Mariah said. "It was great, but he was still not strong enough for these guys. In the end, only Horo Horo was left standing. And I've got to say, his new oversoul is pretty impressive."

"How do you know how much furyoku someone has?" I asked out of random. I don't know why I chose that moment to ask, but ever since that morning at Yoh's house I'd been wondering.

Mariah shrugged. "Everyone's furyoku levels are in the oracle bells. I'm sure yours is in there, if you're wondering."

I nodded and decided I'd check it out later, though it wasn't my furyoku level that I was worried about. "Will there be other fights today?"

"Yeah," Gabe responded lightly. "One of Hao's teams, I believe. But I wouldn't bother with that one. When it's Hao we're talking about, the winners are usually guaranteed."

"No kidding." Tim said, and I could see his face darken when Hao was mentioned. "We'll be lucky if the other team even comes out alive from this one."

"I wouldn't be surprised." Mariah commented darkly. "The final teams have almost emerged, and you know that everyone's going to do everything they can to get to the top. Who knows what could happen?"

Before any of us could reply, Rutherfor came into the room looking preoccupied.

"Hey Ruth," I greeted her with my mouth full. "What's up?"

"Oh, just the usual." Ruth said in a worried tone. "Fights breaking out everywhere, threats emerging from different groups. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Totally." Tim said sarcastically, though I could tell he was concerned. "Is something in particular wrong?"

Ruth sat down, looking uncomfortable. "Goldva held a meeting for the priests just now. I'm not necessarily allowed to give you guys the details, but it looks like something big is coming our way."

"Big in what context?" Gabe asked.

"Goldva didn't say much," Ruth responded, shrugging. "But I have a feeling it has something to do with the Gandhara and the elemental warriors."

"Elemental warriors?" I asked, thoroughly confused. "Who're they?"

"An old legend," Tim said, his eyes narrowed. I could tell that I wasn't the only confused one. "They're five shamans who supposedly control the five elemental spirits."

"You mean the ones Silva was trying to steal?" I asked, feeling alarmed.

"Yeah," Tim said. "But that stuff isn't supposed to be real. It can't be." He looked at Ruth expectantly.

"Look," Ruth said defensively. "I only know what Goldva told us. We don't know who the warriors are, but I think he had a hunch. He's afraid the the elemental spirits will be stolen, so we have to be careful and protect them."

"But if there are elemental warriors, shouldn't they be helpful?" Mariah asked. "I mean, I thought their purpose was to bring peace."

"So, essentially they'd be trying to get rid of Hao." I concluded.

"Yes, I know." Ruth said, and I could tell she was stressed trying to understand all of this. "I don't think Goldva was even telling the whole truth. Until we know more, the best thing to do is to continue our work in the Shaman Fight."

Tim nodded. "Besides, who knows what these people are up to. I bet there're plenty of shamans trying to get rid of Hao already. It shouldn't be our problem."

I was about to reply to the comment, but a sudden, blinding light cut me off. The room was filled with white light that had all of us covering our eyes.

"What the–?" I heard Tim yell as we felt a tremor beneath our feet. I gripped the edge of the table, closing my eyes tightly. I heard plates and utensils clatter to the ground. What was going on?

When the light faded, I opened my eyes and saw that all around the table, everyone wore the exact same expression.

"What the hell was that?" I asked, breaking the shocked silence.

* * *

**Hope you liked it! I can't wait for summer! **


	13. A house is not a home

**Wow, it's been a while. I know it's halfway through the summer and all, but you have no idea how lazy I am. I've done nothing whatsoever and still I can't bring myself to write a story. Well, I'll do my best to keep writing.**

**In other news, my microsoft word program crashed completely out of random, so I've been forced to use some knock off program that doesn't have spell check. It's not too bad, but it's still kind of annoying. I'll do my best to edit as well as I can, but there's no promises that it'll be perfect. Just a heads up. You'll soon find out that my spelling is crap.**

**Hope you're having a good summer!**

* * *

"What's going on out there, Ruth?" Tim's voice rose a little in pitch, making him sound young and scared.

"I-I don't know!" Ruth said, her eyes tearing over. She looked freaked out of her mind. We all were. The tremor had put us all on edge. I kept a hold of the table, worried that another tremor would come along.

"We have to see what's happening." I said, though my voice wavered. "It could be a fight."

"Then shouldn't we stay out of it?" Gabe asked, still trying to regain control of his shaking limbs.

"Yeah, wouldn't the priests come and tell us if something was happening?" Mariah agreed.

I glanced at Ruth. She looked scared and insecure. We all looked at her for the answer, even though she was the youngest of our group. She looked back at us with wide eyes.

"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to." Gabe assured her.

"Yes she does!" I insisted. "Why was there a random earthquake? I mean, I know this is Japan and all, but I doubt earthquakes are usually accompanied by blinding lights."

"I don't know about the earthquake." Ruth said. "All I know is what Goldva told us."

"About what?" Tim prompted, just as eager to know as me.

"About the warriors."

"So there's more?" I asked.

"Not much," Ruth admitted. "Only that the Gandhara were making it their business to find the warriors. According to Goldva, the Gandhara are going to kill them."

When all of us looked at her questioningly, she continued. "The warriors are supposed to do some sort of training while in Hell."

"Hell?" I asked, now seriously confused. "But I thought there wasn't such a thing as Hell, or Heaven. Just the Great Spirits."

"Hell is part of the Great Spirits." Tim explained. "That's where Hao trained for the five hundred years when he wasn't alive."

"So, supposedly, they're going to find five people and kill them because they _think _they're the warriors from the legend?" Mariah asked Ruth, obviously not buying it.

"Please don't ask me." Ruth said, looking so scared from us questioning her. "I only know what Goldva told me."

We all sighed with frustration. We had no clue what had just happened with that tremor, and we were no closer to finding out. I hated this situation.

"We should check it out." I said. "Just for the sake of knowing what happened. I say we all split up and look for the cause of the tremor."

Everyone looked at me with wide eyes. Tim was the first to speak. "Let's do it." I smiled at him. For some reason, my heart skipped a little when he looked at me the way he did, his eyes so full of trust.

Eventually everyone agreed. We headed out, all of us going separate ways. I ended up heading deep into the forest, in some random direction that I was sure I had never taken before. Soon, I knew I was completely lost.

"Where the hell am I going, anyway?" I asked myself. I looked around. Nothing seemed familiar. I figured maybe Erato could help, but when I tried calling her out, she still wasn't responding. Where was she? I began to feel despair. What was the point of having a spirit companion if she was going to flake when she was needed the most?

I took out my oracle bell. Supposedly there was a sort of GPS system on it that I still had no clue how to work. I fought my way through the weird menus. This was the problem with Patch technology. It was like nothing I had ever used before. Everything seemed to be hidden in weirdly named files. It made absolutely no sense.

I ended up stumbling upon the list of contestants. I made my way down the list, seeing who was out of the tournament and who was still making their way through. There was Hao at the top, as if it was already obvious which team was going to win. I rolled my eyes slightly at this. I scrolled down slightly, my eyes landing on the group of X-laws that still remained, and something weird happened. Before my eyes, two X-law men, members of X-III, disappeared from the list. My eyes narrowed at this. To be off the list, one would either have to be dead or out of the tournament, but one more X-law on the team remained. Did something just happen?

Suddenly, more people disappeared from the list, and I felt slightly panicked as I looked at the faces that were leaving. Marco disappeared, closely followed by Lyserg and Jeanne. Then the remaining X-law was gone. What was going on? Was someone going on an X-law hunt, or was my oracle bell just malfunctioning?

But more faces were gone. Yoh was one of the first to go. Then Ren, Horo Horo, and Chocolove disappeared. What the hell was going on?

Freaking out, I turned off my oracle bell and ran, hoping that I would somehow make it into town, where I'd find someone to explain what the hell was happening.

I was running so fast I hardly noticed the giant hole until I almost fell into it.

"Holy crap!" I yelled as I stopped at the edge. The hole was huge, filled with smoking ruins, as if something gigantic had just been burned over it. And if that wasn't weird enough, imagine what it was like to find Hao on the other side of the hole, swinging his legs over the edge.

It seemed like he hadn't noticed me, despite my loud entrance. He was staring down at the hole, a frown on his usually placid face. He looked slightly ticked off, but he didn't say anything, just sat there. I stared at him for a little while, expecting him to speak to me, but nothing happened.

It took me a while to realize why Hao was here. I realized that the smoking hole was actually the remains of the stone building where Hao and I had met a couple of days earlier. Now it was nothing but ash and dust. Did this have anything to do with the tremor?

"It's quite a shame, isn't it?" I jumped a little when Hao spoke. He still wasn't looking at me, and his expression certainly hadn't changed. "The X-laws have ruined a lot of things for me. Now they've ruined my home."

Well, that might explain why the X-laws had disappeared from the list. I shivered slightly when I thought of what Hao might have done to them.

"I didn't kill all of them," Hao stated suddenly. "Just a couple of minor ones. The ones who set up that laser to get rid of me." He sighed a little. "What a nuisance."

I still didn't know what to say to him. What do you say to someone when their home was just blown up by a laser? I decided that it was better to just keep my mouth shut. At least now I knew where that tremor had come from. I'd tell the others later, if they hadn't already figured it out. Quietly, I sat across from Hao, swinging my legs over the edge. As I sat, I wondered what had happened to the other X-laws. If Hao hadn't killed them, who had?

Hao was so quiet it was almost scary. I knew he was deep in thought, probably figuring out where to take it from here. He was already so close to the crown with all the recent events. He had supporters all over the island, and the second round of the tournament was bound to end any day now. Was he already getting ready to carry out his plans? Did he already have a speech planned for the humans he so wanted to destroy?

Or maybe he was just trying to figure out where he was going to sleep from now on.

I tried to think of something to say to him, but what was there to say? He probably already knew everything on my mind. I don't know how he knew what I was thinking, but he did. Did that mean that mind reading was possible?

"It is." Hao said out of random.

I blinked when he spoke. "What?"

"Mind reading. It's possible." Hao said. Still his eyes remained in the hole, like he was addressing it instead of me. "It's called Reishi, a power most often found in demons, but every once in a while it can be found in a shaman."

"Like you, for example?" I asked.

For the first time, Hao's eyes met mine, and he smiled. "Do I make it that obvious."

I shrugged.

Hao chuckled. "Do you want me to tell you about the warriors?"

I nodded.

Hao stood up and came to sit next to me. With his finger, he drew a five-pointed star in the dirt in between us. He surrounded the star with a circle. I knew that this was his insignia. There were stars all over his clothing. Why did he need to draw it again?

"It's more than an just an insignia, Garie, it's the sign of nature." Hao began to draw Japanese characters near each of the stars points.

"Fire," he said as he drew a character. "Water, earth, wind, thunder. The five spirits of nature." He looked up at me expectantly. "You know what those are."

I knew. They were the spirits Silva had tried to steal. They were the whole reason why I was being sent to a lost continent that Google Earth couldn't find.

"According to the legend, the five spirits could only be controlled by those who have had training in Hell. If a normal shaman tried to control a nature spirit a number of things could happen, most of them ending with death."

"That's why the list of contestants is getting smaller then?" I asked. "That means that five of the people who have died are the warriors?"

"Care to guess who?" Hao suggested.

"Yoh," I said immediately. "I mean, it would make sense if your twin brother were trying to kill you."

"I suppose it would." Hao agreed.

I thought about it for a second. Who else would qualify as a warrior? Who else had disappeared from that list? "I'd say all or any of Ren's team."

"Why?" Hao inquired.

I shrugged. "Because they're the only people I can think of right now. Am I wrong?"

"No," Hao said. "But you're still missing one. I'll give you a clue: It's not who you think."

I thought harder. Why was he making me guess anyway? Couldn't he just tell me? I kept thinking back to the names on my oracle bell. It had to be one of the X-laws. But what did he mean by that clue? My first guess would be that the last warrior was Jeanne, although that did kind of throw off the all-boy pattern going on. Then, if it wasn't her, who? Certainly not Marco. All the other warriors were way younger than him. That would just be weird. So, who did that leave?

"Lyserg?" I said out loud. I looked at Hao to see if I was right. "Seriously? Isn't he, I don't know, kind of a wimp?"

"Yes, but it doesn't matter what any of them are," Hao replied, smiling at my description. "Because I'll make sure to get rid of them all. Thanks for delivering my message by the way, Garie. You've certainly been helpful."

"You're not going to kill me now, are you?" I asked cautiously.

Hao laughed slightly. "Of course not. I still need you. Plus, I'm really starting to take a liking to you."

I didn't know if that comment flattered or scared me. It seemed to me that the people Hao liked never ended up too well.

"So," I said, trying to steer away from uncomfortable thoughts. "What do you need me for?"

Hao waited a second before replying. "Well, seeing as you so blatantly refuse to join my ranks, I want you to keep doing small favors for me."

"As long as you're not sending me out to kill people." I muttered.

Hao laughed. "No, I have my companions for that. I have something else in mind." He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "You know Jordin Elliot, right?"

My eyes narrowed slightly at this question. "Of course I know her."

Hao handed me the paper. "Give that to her." With that, he stood up and turned around. "The Shaman Fight is going to change soon. Thanks to that laser, it won't be long before humans start to take notice of us. Be prepared. And, in regard to the whole mind reading thing, I'll always know if you did what I asked." In two seconds, he had disappeared into the forest.

I looked down at the paper in my hand. It was folded over twice. Hao sending a note? That seemed just a little bit...strange. He was more the type to show up out of random and say whatever he had to say out loud. What was driving him to send a note? And why to Jordin?

I got the impulse to open the note and read it. I was driven with curiosity, but I stopped myself. It was too obvious that if I read it, Hao would know. I did not want that. Plus, I had to stop getting into people's business. Decidedly, I stuck the note in my pocket and headed off, again trying to find my way to town.

As I neared town, I suddenly heard someone call: "Miss Garie!"

I turned to see Erato floating towards me, her face filled with worry.

"Erato." My eyes narrowed. "Where the hell have you been?"

Erato looked at me with sad eyes. "I'm so sorry, Miss Garie. I didn't mean to be gone for so long. I swear! It's just that you were with Tim, so I decided that maybe I should leave for a little while. But then so many terrible things started happening. I just didn't know what to do."

"What kind of things?" I asked.

"That explosion, and all the deaths. I thought you might need my help, but Bason told me that spirits were being collected, so he and I decided to hide for a little while."

"Who's Bason?" I asked.

"He's Master Ren's spirit." Erato explained. "He was there at the riverside when Master Ren was killed."

I laughed a little. "What's with the 'Master Ren' thing? I've never heard you use a term like that for anyone but me."

"That's what Bason calls him." Erato said, not seeing anything wrong with it.

I thought about it for a second. "So, while I was with Tim you were off with another spirit? Don't tell me you two are dating now. Is that even possible?"

Erato blushed. It's a strange thing to see a ghost blush, since they're kind of see-through, but it was funny all the same. "It's not like that at all. I just happened to find him, and he helped me. Nothing like what you were doing at the beach with Tim."

"Don't get sassy with me." I warned her as we entered the town. "You're the one who wasn't there when I needed you."

Erato's expression became one of deep guilt. "I apologize, Miss Garie. I promise it won't happen again."

I glanced at her. Erato was such a great friend. It occurred to me that in the many years that we'd known each other, never before had she shown interest for another spirit. Maybe I shouldn't have been so tough on her.

"Whatever," I said. "I'm just glad that Hao's spirit didn't decide to turn you into dinner. That wouldn't have been good at all."

Erato smiled brightly at me.

We looked around town for Jordin. I had no clue where she was, or where she might be. I didn't know her that well, and this was a pretty big island. But I was determined to find her as soon as I possibly could. To tell the truth, I was still scared shitless of what Hao might do to me and the people I loved. Maybe that's what had driven the other priests to join him. Maybe, like me, they were trying to protect their loved ones. That seemed possible, except for Nichrom, because he was just a selfish bastard.

As I walked I thought of reasons for Hao to send Jordin a note. Had he actually paid attention to what I'd said while I was yelling at him the other night? I doubted it. Hao hardly seemed to type to listen to anyone, especially me.

Erato decided to search higher up. It was strange how empty the town was becoming. I remembered how crowded the streets had been when the second round first opened. Now only about half of those people remained. With the fight drawing to a close, shamans and spectators were becoming more and more sparse.

I turned a corner and found myself in some sort of sea port, with a few small boats docked nearby. I noticed a group of people a couple of yards away from where I stood. Amongst them I saw a Patch priest. As the priest peeled himself from the group and began to walk away, I saw his face. It was Namari.

"Hello, Apprentice." He greeted me coolly. "I heard you've become Goldva's new favorite."

"Who told you that?" I asked.

"Why, Nichrom was just talking to me about it this morning." Namari served me with a smile that made it seem like he should have fangs. The look in his eye sent a shiver down my spine. "Good luck on your mission, by the way."

I stared at him as he walked away. Four sentences and I already hated the guy. Something told me that he and I weren't going to be the best of pals. I continued towards the group.

I noticed a couple of familiar faces, like Ryu and Faust, both who looked extremely unhappy. The rest were completely new to me. There was a young woman with very long hair and a dot on her forehead, like you might see on someone from India. She looked like any average woman, despite the fact that she was beautiful, but I could somehow tell she was the leader of this strange group.

As I came closer, I became aware of what they were all staring at. I felt my breath hitch a little as I looked down at Yoh, lying motionless on the ground. He looked uninjured, and I could almost convince myself that he was asleep. But I knew better than that. I was pretty sure that everyone else did too.

"Hello, Garie Sullivan." The woman said to me.

I started a little. "Do I know you?"

The young woman smiled. "My name is Sati, leader of the Gandhara, and no we have not met. But I do know that you're an apprentice of the Patch."

Leader of the Gandhara. I looked at the other faces, all of whom looked to be Asian in one way or another. So this was the group causing all the trouble. They were the ones killing all the warriors, the proof lying right in front of me.

"So the whole thing with the warriors," I said, staring down at Yoh's unmoving body. "It's true?"

Sati nodded. "There's nothing to worry about, Priestess. I know how to revive people, and I can assure you that the other warriors are well taken care of."

"Well, you seem confident," I said, not wanting to hear any more about all of this warrior crap. Quite frankly the whole thing was giving me a headache. "I'll just leave you to it then." I turned my attention to Faust and Ryu. "Since you guys are here, can one of you tell me where Jordin is?"

"Jordin?" Ryu repeated. "Why? Is she in trouble?"

"No," I said. "Well, I don't think so at least." Oh my God! What if the note was some kind of trap and I was only helping to get Jordin killed? Crap. Suddenly the whole messenger thing went from bad to worse in my mind. What if I just decided not to do it?

_I'll always know if you did what I asked._

Okay, then. That idea was out.

"I just have something to give her. I'm trying hard to keep to my own business, but it's getting just a bit hard, so just tell me where I can find her so that I can get this over with." I tried hard not to sound completely exasperated.

"Jordin and the rest of her team are at the house." Faust replied.

"Wonderful." I said, trying to sound honest, but really just sounding sarcastic. "Now we're getting somewhere." I turned to leave, but I caught sight of Yoh once again. I felt so bad for what was happening. I wanted so bad to be able to help him, to help everyone. Yoh had been the first person I'd met when I was thrown into this mess. He was my first friend, the first one to make me feel welcome. Why couldn't I return the favor by helping him out?

I glanced at Sati. The look on her face said that she knew exactly what she was doing. Might as well leave her to it.

"I'll see you guys later." I said.

I finally made it to the house where everyone in Yoh's ranks was living. As I walked closer, I noticed the three figures sitting near the entrance. Jordin, May and Sam all sat close together, all wearing solemn looks. I did not like the energy coming from this place.

"Hello, Garie." May said when she saw me approach. She attempted a smile, but I could tell it was a strain for her to show any sort of happiness.

"Is something wrong?" Sam asked, not even bothering to look welcoming.

"You mean aside from the fact that everyone is going to Hell?" I asked. "No, nothing. I'm just passing on something."

"What?" Jordin asked.

I looked at her for a second before taking the note out of my pocket. I stepped forward, giving it to her. She took it, a questioning look on her face.

"What's this?" Jordin asked.

"I'm just going to assume that it's all explained inside, but I don't know what it says, and he didn't say anything." I shrugged. "I'm just the messenger, remember?"

I turned to leave, not really wanting to see their reaction when they figured out that I was once again taking messages from Hao. I walked away calmly, and the girls didn't call me back. In a way, this goodbye seemed a whole lot more final than any other farewell those girls and I had ever shared. I guess the whole world ending thing was finally getting to me.

I walked silently through town, not entirely sure of what I should do. All of the friends I had made at the beginning of this ordeal were now either dead or dying, and I couldn't do anything to help. It honestly felt like everyone's lives were dangling on a string, and all we could do was wait for them to snap. What was there left to do except wait for the time when I would leave this forsaken island and go to the lost continent to do whatever the hell I had to do down there?

It was almost sunset. I hadn't heard from any of the other apprentices, but I assumed that all of them had found similar results as I had, except for, possibly, the smoking remains of Hao's house. I decided to head back towards my own house, just because I felt extremely out of it. Is this what the end of the world feels like? Was it defined by that unmistakable sense of hopelessness?

I was hardly paying attention to the path in front of me, which is why I hardly noticed when I crashed right into him. I jumped back, looking up at him in surprise. He looked down at me and gave me a hard, icy look. When I looked into his eyes, I saw no recognition in them.

"Silva?" I took a step towards him. "Where the hell have you been?"

Silva didn't reply. When he looked at me, it was as if he had no idea who the hell I was. He just looked at me with lifeless eyes. Suddenly, he turned away from me and began to walk away.

"Silva!" I yelled after him. "What the hell did they do to you? What happened? Tell me!"

He didn't turn around, and he didn't stop walking. This was getting frustrating. I knew there was something wrong with him. Those priests had done something to him, something horrible. Had they tortured him? What had they done to make him into this walking zombie that was once my uncle?

I ran in front of him, blocking his way. "Silva!" I tried. "Silva, it's me! Garie! I'm your niece. My mom left you in charge of me, remember? You're supposed to be taking care of me!" His face showed nothing that resembled understanding. "Silva, please. Those priests did something to you. What's going on? Tell me!"

He turned away again, as if it really didn't matter where he was going, he just wanted to be away from me.

"Silva..." I said, feeling hopeless now.

When I thought all hope was lost, he spoke, but he didn't turn around to address me. "Our duty is to protect the Shaman King." With that, he walked off, leaving me standing there, feeling like I had just been punched in the stomach.

* * *

"You really don't have to work right now if you don't want to." Thalim assured me as I put on my apron.

"It's not a problem." I tried assuring him, trying to smile even though I felt like crap. "I need to to something to keep my mind off of everything."

Thalim looked at me, unsure. "Okay, but you're welcome to take a break whenever you need to."

I nodded. "Thanks, Thalim."

As usual, the coffee shop was empty. I didn't really care, though. I turned the small radio on the counter to a hard rock station and grabbed a broom. As I sang along as loud as I possibly could, I swept the place over. That went on for about half an hour, after I had swept the place a couple of times. I looked around for other things to clean, but the place was already shining. I sighed, once again behind the counter. This really wasn't helping.

Suddenly, the door opened, and I was glad. _Yes, _I thought, turning around with a smile on my face. _Some custo..._

Hao walked into the shop, and my smile was gone.

To my surprise, though, Hao wasn't alone. Behind him was Yoh, very much alive, and nothing like I'd last seen him. Yoh smiled brightly at me.

"Hey Garie!" He said pleasantly.

"Uh, hi," I looked from Hao to Yoh and back to Hao. This was the first time I'd ever seen the two of them together, and I tell you, it was weird. It was like I was seeing double. Even Hao, who was usually wearing those weird jeans and that poncho thingy, had changed into a white button up and khakis. He looked like a more formal version of Yoh, which made it even weirder for me.

It took me a second to shake off my surprise. I reached behind me and turned off the radio.

"W-what can I get you?" I asked, trying not to sound like an idiot, though I sure felt that way.

"Let's see." Hao said, looking up at the menu. "I'll have an espresso." He turned to his twin. "What do you want?"

"Um," Yoh studied the menu, a look of sheer confusion on his face. He looked apologetically at Hao. "I'm still kind of new to these things. What's an espresso?"

"It's a concentrated drink made from coffee beans." Hao replied calmly. "It's bitter, but it'll wake you up."

"Oh," Yoh looked back at the menu. "I'd prefer something sweet."

"Okay," Hao turned back to me. "Make it a cappuccino, then."

As I prepared their orders, I watched them from the corner of my eye. Yoh looked a bit uncomfortable, and Hao just kept smiling like he always did. They weren't talking, though, so I figured this was a good time to mention to Hao that I'd done his bidding.

Of course he already knew.

"Can I ask you something?" I said to Hao as I passed him his espresso and started on the cappuccino. When Hao didn't do anything to stop me, I continued. "What was that note about?"

Hao sipped his espresso. "A warning."

I blinked. A warning? I wanted him to be more thorough with his answer, but that's all he said, so I decided not to press him. He turned and went to find a table near the window. Yoh stayed behind to wait for his drink.

"What's going on?" I asked Yoh, handing him his coffee.

Yoh shrugged. "He said he wanted to talk."

I looked at Hao, sitting calmly in the restaurant. He didn't seem to be a threat, but you never knew with the psychos. "Fine, but try not to provoke him. I have a no killing policy in this place, and you were already dead once. Don't need that again."

Yoh smiled brightly at me. "It's good to see you again, Garie."

I was caught off guard by this comment. I watched him take a seat across from his twin. I slapped myself internally, telling myself to look away. But this was so weird. I guess I was just waiting for one of them to attack the other, but nothing happened. The most exciting thing that happened was Yoh discovering how bitter a cappuccino is. I guess I should have told him to put sugar into it before drinking it.

As I stood there, trying to find a way to be inconspicuous, Thalim walked in. He took in the scene, and his usually easy eyes widened with surprise. He looked at me questioningly.

"They're just talking." I assured him.

For the first time since I'd known him, Thalim looked genuinely uncomfortable. "D-do you need me to take over here?"

"No, but please stay." I said. "I'm actually kind of scared of what'll happen."

"I understand," Thalim replied. He poured himself a huge cup of black coffee, and he and I started trying to keep a conversation going. But neither of us could find a topic to stay on. We both kept shooting glances at the twins.

"Here," I said to Yoh, handing him an iced coffee drink I'd just whipped up. He hadn't touched his cappuccino since that first sip.

"Thanks." Yoh said brightly. Hao said nothing.

I decided to go to the back, under the excuse of needing to refill the coffee beans, though the can was already full. When I came back, Hao stood in front of the counter, and I immediately felt bad, because Thalim looked scared out of his mind.

"Um, now that you brought it up," Thalim was saying in a rush. "Today the first five customers get their drinks for free."

Huh? Well that's something I wasn't aware of. I then realized that Thalim was just saying this because he was scared that Hao might kill him. _Goddamn this guy,_ I thought, not caring that Hao could obviously hear me. _What the hell makes him think he can walk all over my boss like that?_

As he turned around to leave, Hao shot me a small smile. "Goodbye, Garie. It'll be a while before we see each other again."

He left, saying something to Yoh, but I wasn't paying attention. To my surprise, Yoh came towards me, dropping a handful of coins on the counter.

"You don't have to pay for anything." Thalim assured him, still trying to regain his composure.

"It's a tip," Yoh said with a smile. "For making me me that drink." He turned to me. "See ya, Garie."

He walked out, leaving Thalim and me to take in what we had just witnessed.

* * *

I was walking silently when I suddenly heard someone yell behind me.

"Garie!" I turned to see Tim running towards me, a wild look in his eyes. He stopped in front of me, breathing hard. "I've...been looking...everywhere...thought Hao...had gotten you..." He glared at me then. "Where the hell were you?"

"I was working." I tried my best to keep my tone level. Why the hell was he getting so worked up?

"I sent you like five messages. Why the hell didn't you reply?" He looked insanely pissed, which looked weird on his usually calm face.

"I didn't get any messages." I said. I pulled out my oracle bell, and with a jolt realized that I'd accidentally turned it off after I'd last used it. "Oh, crap." I turned it on, and the little screen showed me that I had exactly five unread messages.

I looked back up at Tim. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to turn it off. I just "

"Just don't do it again." Tim cut me off. He sighed. "I'm sorry, too. I'm just freaking out about the Festival of the Stars."

"Festival of the Stars?" I asked, totally not sure of what he meant. "What is that, a special on MTV?"

Tim rolled his eyes, but at least I succeeded at making him smile. "Apparently it's Hao's way of saying that he's taking over."

"Well that's a corny way to say it," I said.

"Did you find anything?" Tim asked, and I was glad he didn't look so mad anymore.

"I found out who the warriors are." I said. I don't know why I didn't want to tell him about meeting Hao in the woods. It's not like anything happened, and I doubted anything ever would. I mean, seriously, how many times had Hao had a chance to make a move on me? Obviously I wasn't his type, or maybe he's just way more shy than he let on. Still, I couldn't say anything to Tim. What if he took it the wrong way? "That's about all I found."

Tim looked at me, his eyes looking deep into mine. I suddenly felt kind of uncomfortable. It was like he was looking into my soul.

"Garie," he said, softer than before. "I want you to know that no matter what comes up I will always be honest with you. I swear, I'm not good at keeping secrets. All I ask is that you're fair to me and are just as honest."

Dammit. Was I seriously that easy to read? Here I was thinking that I was a good liar.

"Fine," I said, defeated. "I went to the forest, and I found out what had caused the tremor. Some kind of laser destroyed the building where Hao was staying at. I found Hao there. He's the one who told me about the warriors. Then he gave me a message to pass on to another contestant, and we went our separate ways. Nothing else happened."

Tim stared at me for a second. "You're working for Hao, then?"

"Working for him?" I knew he'd take this the wrong way. "Of course not!"

"So that's where you go when you disappear for so long." Tim said, as if he already knew everything and didn't need me to explain. "I knew this would happen. I can't believe you, Garie. You're no better than Nichrom."

"What?" I couldn't believe this! He thought I was on Hao's side now? "Tim, don't you dare compare me to someone like Nichrom."

"Why shouldn't I?" Tim asked, his face once again showing sheer anger. "What, you thought I wouldn't find out that you were going against the Patch?"

"I'm not going against anyone!" I said desperately. "Tim, just listen. He threatened me, okay? And my family. All he wanted me to do was pass on a couple of messages, that's all."

Tim didn't look convinced, but he seemed to calm down a little. "How am I supposed to trust you if you're going to lie to me, Garie?"

I looked at him, my eyes tearing over. What had I done to deserve this? What had he done to deserve someone as horrible as me? Just a couple of hours ago I had practically fallen in love with him. Just a couple of hours ago he had kissed me, and I had felt true happiness for the first time since I'd been there. Why had I ruined it?

"Tim, please." A tear slid down my cheek. "I hate crying. Please don't make me. I didn't want to help him. I really didn't." I choked back a sob, and my voice became softer, more desperate. "Please."

Tim sighed again, and I could tell he hated my tears as much as I did. I thought he was really going to take it out on me. I seriously thought he was going to break whatever relationship we already had. When he spoke again, I prepared myself for the ultimate pain.

"Let's go."

That's all he said. Without another word, he started walking away. I ran to catch up to him, but I didn't speak to him. He walked a couple of paces ahead of me, not looking back.

At that moment, for the first time in my life, I felt true loneliness. It felt like a cold hand had taken a hold of my heart and was slowly twisting it, making sure that I felt the pain of every turn. I stared at the back of Tim's head and wished with all my heart that he'd turn back and say something, anything, to shake off this feeling of being hated. But I realized then that if he was going to say anything to me, it would probably have something to do with how much he hated me, or how much regret he's felt just by knowing me. Those thoughts just served to make me feel even worse about this whole situation.

I went to bed early that night. I didn't share any of the things I'd found with anyone else. I figured Tim would tell them if they were really interested. I didn't care if he suddenly decided to twist the story to make me look like a monster. I probably wouldn't have cared if they all chose to hate me after tonight. I just didn't care. I went upstairs, hardly bothering to put on pajamas, and lay down in my bed.

That morning seemed so far away from this moment, as if it had happened a century ago. Had I really gotten a lecture about my self-esteem from Gabe just that morning? Had Tim and I really kissed at the beach, or was I just so delusional that I made myself think that I had?

I buried myself deep into my blankets, not wanting to think about that day. Thinking about it made me think of Tim and Hao and Yoh, and thinking of any of them only gave me tears and anger, and I didn't want either of those tonight. I grabbed my phone off the night stand and put it to play every song I'd ever saved on there. Unfortunately, most of the songs I had on there were the country songs that I had downloaded years before when I had a country obsession. So that night I fell asleep to the sound of Johnny Cash and Boxcar Willy. That sure as hell gave me some weird dreams.

* * *

**Damn, I hate it when I know **_**exactly**_** where I want to go, but I have no idea how to get there. Well, I hope you like this chapter. Everything's changing so fast! It's so close to the end! NO! **

**I don't know how many more chapters I'll be writing. How ever many it takes for me to get to the end. So there. **

**If you're wondering why Hao sent Jordin a note, I'll tell you now: I have no freaking clue. I guess I just want an excuse to connect them, because they both were getting a little bit too aloof for my taste. **

**I need ideas. I need buckets of ideas that I can just sift through, because right now I have none. Writer's block much? **

**Well, I'll think of something. Keep reading! Please!**


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